Unacceptable Failure – Don’t Live There
One of the most popular blogs on the internet these days is the fail blog–a website dedicated to humorous depictions of everyday failure. In fact, the usage of “FAIL” has become popularized through the advent of highlighting such failure. The fact is that failure is inevitable because we live in a fallen world. In light of that, I’ve been thinking about the kinds of acceptable and unacceptable failure in the Christian life. Can a case be made for this distinction?
Another popular phrase comes from John Piper’s message at OneDay 2000 where he shared the story of a retiring couple spending the last chapter of their lives fishing on their boat and collecting sea shells. Subsequently, one of Piper’s most popular books, Don’t Waste Your Life, was published only to be followed by a website campaign, blog, additional resources, YouTube channel, Facebook, and Twitter. The theme is crystal clear: you’ve got one life to live – don’t blow it! The implication is that you spent your life on something that does not matter or count for eternity. It was a poor investment, a failure of stewardship with this one life granted to you by God to make much of him.
I think one of the greatest ways to waste your life is to live in fear of failure–a fear of messing up and making a fool of yourself. It’s a fear that paralyzes you of being fulling convinced of something, of going “all in” with the chips of your life, and being complete sold-out with no recourse or plan B to fall back on. It’s a fear that predisposes you to status-quo and squeezes you into a hermeneutic of the cloudy can’t. Indeed, it is a fear that prizes pessimism as a virtue and prefers inaction in keeping with personal traditions. It is the path of least resistance and minimal requirement where the eventual outcome of atrophy become a trophy for the almighty rut, having persuaded ourselves that we are far more secure in stagnation than we are confident in any change that carries with it the potential of failure.
The most common path to unacceptable failure is to live in fear of it. Keep focusing on what you can’t do rather than what God can do through radical, risk-taking faith. Continue the practice of a functional atheist with enough understanding of the sovereignty of God to justify your disobedience and not enough understanding to live under the domination of God’s sovereign rule. Convince yourself that the past is always better than the future and live with regret rather than repentance, holding on to maintain rather than letting go to be on mission. Develop a theology of contentment where holy ambition and zeal for the glory of God is suspect if not sin and drive yourself into deeper levels of comfort and disengagement. When Jesus tells you that having a mustard seed-sized faith can move mountains and “nothing will be impossible for you,” rationalize it away refined unbelief and soothe your conscience with the absence of rebels to such mediocrity around you.
All throughout the Bible we find men and women who risked it all, including being an abject failure, pursuing the God who is bigger than life itself. And it is to no one’s surprise that the smile of the Sovereign satisfies the faithful and stings the skeptical whose pride refuses to see God for who He is and take Him at His word. Whether it was Abraham with Isaac on the altar, the Hebrew boys in the furnace, Elijah on Mt. Carmel, David before Goliath, Peter on the water, or the woman with outstretched arm for the garment of One passing by, I want to be found in the train where my request is sized and suitable for the Lord Omnipotent. I want to live where I feel the weight of my dependence and desperation for God in that if He is not present and powerfully working, my life and dreams would utterly crumble. Then I will sense and know Him as the one who sustains me as my portion in the land of the living.
Life is too short to try to escape from experiencing failure, and the mission of God is too important to surround yourself with people who encourage you to live that way. Find those who are rebels to mediocrity and sell out to Him on whom they have set their sights. Nothing great was ever accomplished by those who feared failure more than they feared God. I am praying that God would expose in the unbelief in my heart and never allow me to hide behind theological constructions that discourage bold, aggressive plodding for His glory or dampen the fire being fanned into flame by His Spirit.
Lord, remove the props until I’m face first in repentance and faith believing the promises of your Word in pursuit of Your kingdom’s advance. Lift me from the rut and routine to experience genuine reformation and renewal as You open my eyes to see how great You truly are and so eager to bless those who have nothing to hold onto but Your unfailing hand.
Amen.
Tags: Failure
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June 3, 2009 at 9:37 pm
“Find those who are rebels to mediocrity and sell out to Him on whom they have set their sights.”
Just wanted you to know that I am in California and the Lord is using your last two posts to bless, encourage, strengthen, affirm and equip Christians as far away as North Carolina! The Lord has laid the same burden on their hearts and what a joy to know a brother that they have never even met as been moved to express their very heart. Praising the Lord tonight. Many “AMENS!” are being uttered in the Kingdom as they read these last few posts.
June 4, 2009 at 12:05 am
Timmy,
Great post man! John Wooden writes in his personal autobiography that he often told his team that the team who made the most mistakes would likely win the game. His point was: if we are aggressive, we should win the game AND sometimes the biggest mistake is to not make any mistakes at all.
Thanks for the post. Great exhortation before I go to bed. I’m looking forward to whatever church planting networking extravaganza you are working on as well.
June 4, 2009 at 9:41 am
“Nothing great was ever accomplished by those who feared failure more than they feared God.”
This is a hard yet encouraging post to read. As I have read the quote above from this post over and over, I keep asking myself which am I. Pride displayed through the concern of what others think of us is a powerful and evil thing. And yet I know I am influenced by it.May God grant me the mercy to fear him more than I fear failing. May he grant me to see how big the gospel is and how small everything else is.
Great post Timmy. I will wrestle with this one for a while.
June 8, 2009 at 10:14 am
Great post Timmy! God is only as big as our biggest fear and too many times it is a fear to fail and thus a refusal to “attempt great things for God” and “expect great things from God.” I settle for mediocrity and comfort far too often because it is safe and easy. Thanks for the challenge. Let’s go outside the camp together brother!