Confronting failure

What is the solution to our all too frequent failures to live as people who belong to God? We’ve not wanted to fail, but we have. It may have been envy, or pride, or an angry outburst. It may have been the lack of the virtues that reflect the Jesus we know. All of us have weaknesses—sins that seems to cling to us (Heb. 12:1).

The pain of failure is very real. More importantly, the loss to God’s glory is very real.

It’s important to get the answer right here. We seem to be on uncertain ground. Sin is not just an accident, something we can correct with a bit more effort. Satan has sought to move us onto his ground. Following our own heart has become more important to us than what God wants.

And then, the law that’s been written on our hearts tells us that we’re out of order. It can make us wonder who we really are, and to whom we belong. It may make us question if we have a right to ask for forgiveness yet again.

The verse from Hebrews that I referred to above, about sin clinging to us, is followed by this statement, ‘…let us run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…’. Here’s where we need to start.

Part of Satan’s strategy is to get us focused on ourselves. That way leads down, not up. We need to be looking to Jesus who is not just the author of our faith, but also its perfecter. He’s died for us. And he’s now seated beside God, directing everything—including us when we’ve failed.

This is exactly what’s happening during the time when Peter denies the Lord. Jesus explains the situation to him before it happens: ‘Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned, strengthen your brothers’ (Luke 22:31-34). Jesus couldn’t have made a clearer claim to be managing everything during this period of Peter failing.

And then, at the very time Peter fails, Jesus looks at him. We can be sure that he is looking at us too, when we fail—looking with understanding. And we need to look to him—not run in another direction.

Paul confronts this issue in Romans 7 and 8. He writes a section about not doing the good he wants, and doing what he doesn’t want to do (7:14-25). And he writes it in in the present tense—suggesting that he writes from personal experience. He knows that his failures are breaking God’s law. And they make him confused (v. 15), confined (v. 23) and wretched (v. 24).

This is what he feels. But notice, it’s not who he is.

Daringly, Paul says his sinning isn’t him! It sounds like the excuse a child might make when caught doing something wrong. But God has given him—and us—a new identity. Who we are is not changed when we do something wrong.

We’re God’s children. We’re not related to him because we please him. Everyone who trusts in God’s Son is given the right to be called a child of God. And this Son of God has taken into account our whole life of sinfulness. He’s accounted for everything we did years ago, everything we’re concerned about now, and everything we will do wrong in the future.

All of this—past, present and future sin, has already been condemned. Jesus was condemned in our place. That’s why the condemnation we feel now is not coming from above. God’s finished with the condemnation for all who trust his Son.

The condemnation we feel is coming because we’re still wanting to behave well without being dependent on Christ. And Satan takes advantage of that and plays his nasty games with us.

What we need when we sin, more than anything else, is humility. Failure can drive us to an anger-based severity. Our pride has been dented and we want to recover.

If we do this, we’re virtually saying that we don’t need a Saviour. We may have been grateful to him for getting us going, but not aware of how we are going to need this Saviour all our lives.

So, when we find we’ve failed to do what God wants, we need to preach the gospel to ourselves. Our sins are washed away. We’re not being condemned—not by God.

And then, the Holy Spirit is leading us on to a better way.

Paul describes this new life as ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’. The Holy Spirit is taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. He’s showing us our sins being washed away. He ignites love in us—love for Christ, for people around us. And he shows us how to live.

This is the power that sets us free from ‘the law of sin and death’. We are freed from law being in charge. And freed from its threatening. We belong to Christ and are ready to live fruitfully for God (Rom. 7:4). This is our new identity.

We need to make up our mind to follow what the Spirit is showing us.

His joy in bringing to us what Christ has done is infectious. It won’t seem so hard to do what God wants, or to steer away from temptations. He teaches us to call God our Father. This new life doesn’t have a legal basis but a familial one.

So, which ‘law’ or principle are we walking by? Are we dragging ourselves from one failure to another, or descending upon our life with the freedom of ‘the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’?

The failures that grieve us may be the failures we need to have. Everything we pass through in life is designed to throw us back on the Saviour to whom we owe our life. And our unwanted sins awaken us to the reality that we need the Holy Spirit’s constant renewing of us.

While our eyes are on Christ and we are relying on the Holy Spirit, we will know who we really are. And we will grow in producing all the qualities that God looks for in us. Love, joy and peace will return. Patience, kindness and goodness will grow. People will see faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And Christ himself will see the fruit of what he’s done for us. And he’ll be satisfied (Isa. 53:11). What we think of ourselves doesn’t matter a hoot. It’s his pleasure that matters.