Nobody likes to fail...but we all do. As human beings who are weak and finite, we often find ourselves on the other side of decisions, goals and ambitions picking up the pieces; thinking about what went wrong; what we did wrong; what “they” did to wrong us; what could have been if...

Our experience with failure starts early in life and our learned responses to failure often shape how we deal with it in the future. Likewise, our responses to failure reflect our understanding of how God works in us through our successes AND failures so that he can work through us to accomplish His will for our lives and bring Him glory.

When you fail do you see God at work? Do you see failure as Dave Harvey defines it; as “ambition refused for a better plan”? Or do you fear failure? Are you willing to step out and take the risks that always accompany ambition or are you paralyzed by fear of failure?

Think about it for a minute. Aren’t there at least a few things that you’ve always had a desire to do? What about the desire for a high school diploma or college degree, to proclaim the gospel and see many bow the knee before Christ, for career success, to grow and mature in your spiritual gifts, to break your family heritage and be a godly husband and father, to pursue a friendship with someone. As followers of Christ we all desire to use our lives, to give our lives to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. These are just a few examples. I know you have your own. The question is what are you doing about it? And if the answer is “nothing” you need to ask yourself why; especially, if you fear failure.

[bridge building moment]
I am not advocating that we all drop everything and “follow our dreams”. And I’m not implying that if you are not pursing a goal right now that you should be. These decisions need to be made with care, wisdom, prayer and patience and in total dependence on the Lord. But if your reason for standing still is because of fear I believe God has a courage building change in store for you.

Fear of failure often begins with us finding our identity in our failure. We derive our value from the outcome of our endeavors; therefore, when we fail we conclude that we are failures. Shame, anger, guilt and self-pity begin to characterize who we are because we are living as if failure defines us. And fear of future failure can begin to squelch any hope of success or ambitious desire that we have left. Our fear of failure eventually gives birth to stagnation and status quo.

If this is you, what you need is truth. You’ve been living with a misunderstanding about Gods involvement in your life and you have been believing lies about who you are and where your identity is rooted as a disciple of Christ.

The gospel declares to us that we are not defined by our failures. We are defined by the success of Christ. The gospel restores God to the center of our process of evaluating failure so that we no longer see it on a single plane. Now we see the activity of God in us, changing us, leading us, preparing us for acts of service that He has prepared for us to do. The word of God restores God to our evaluation of ourselves. And as we recall the perfect love of God displayed for us on the cross and remember His promise to always be with us, fear is driven out and replaced with courage to accomplish for God, even through our failure, more than we could ever imagine.

Recommended reading: Rescuing Ambition, Dave Harvey (this post inspired from chapter 8)