When You Fail

Life is full of failure. Failure is word that we don't hear often in the world today, and it seems like our culture is going out of its way to make sure that people never feel like a failure. It hurts to fail. If you've played any sports you know how it feels to work so hard to win the game only to lose in the end. Every student knows what it is like to fail in school, even if they never received a failing grade everyone has gotten a grade that they hoped would have been higher. Perhaps Christians are the ones who deal with the most failure. Not only are we told that most people will reject the gospel when we tell it to them, but Christians deal with failure in their own life every single day. Christians fight against sin. If a Christian is not struggling against various sins in their life, then it is fair to say that that person should reevaluate their salvation because they may be a false convert. As Christians struggle against sin, if they are honest with themselves they will come to learn something real quick and that is they fail a lot. There isn't a Christian alive who can't relate to Paul in Romans 7. When one really takes a look inside themselves they see just how wicked and depraved they really are. Now it's true that as one becomes a more mature Christian they learn to love their neighbor more, however Christians will always struggle against the wicked thoughts they have. Because we still have a sinful flesh we deal with sin, and often times will fail and have the feeling of misery afterwards. So what do we do when we fail? For this it is important to go to the book of 1 John. In 1 John 2:1 John writes, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin, but if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the Righteous One." John is making it clear that the goal of Christians should be to not sin. In this way Christians should never be comfortable with their sin, nor should they be totally comfortable in this life, as they can always do better, and be better since they still have a sinful body. John then points us to where we should look if we do sin, and that is we should look to Jesus Christ the righteous one. The reason for this should be clear, but in case it isn't Christians look to Jesus when they fail because he is the one that will bring them to success. It is because of Jesus that we have a desire to fight against sin, and it is Jesus who is the one that will save us, not just from the consequences of sin, but from the sinful desires themselves. I have found that as I focus on the goodness of Christ, and the grace I have been given in Christ Jesus I want to love my neighbor more and I hate my sin more, and fight harder against it. I am not looking to my own strength or skill but to the one who has beaten sin and death. As Christians we must understand that we are not the heroes of this story, we are the ones in distress. The true Christians understands their need for salvation and continually puts their trust in the one who has saved them, Jesus Christ. The true Christian can deal with failure because they know that the son of God has not failed, and this is part of the process of us to stop thinking so much about ourselves, and focus on Christ which will in turn lead us to love our neighbors more. The true Christian can admit that they have failed, they can be honest about their sin and call it what it is, make not excuse for it, and does not justify it. From here we cling through faith to Jesus who will cleanse us from it. We have tried to save ourselves time and again, and we have failed over and over, so we learn our victory does not come from us, it comes from Jesus Christ. The same can be said for each time the church meets with a failure. We should look to the one who has won, and to the one who was and is and is to come. With recent news some people would see that church has failed in a big way, and I'm sure many Christians right now are dealing with feelings of hopelessness and the sting of failure, but we do not sit in our own self pity, we do not lie down and admit defeat, we look to and cling to our savior to our king, the one that will come and judge the earth and make right what went wrong. Jesus has died for the church, and has risen again. We must continually look to Jesus each time we fail, and we must trust in his word that he who began a good work in us will see it through to completion. Christians fail, and fail often, but Christ has succeeded, and thankfully the truth of Christianity is not dependent upon Christians, but Christ.