Redemption From Failure

Over the past two years, we’ve been asked several times how God has turned the mess of our lives into our message? How have we allowed God to use such a broken part of us for His purpose? How have we found redemption from our failure? Today and tomorrow, I want to talk about the process of finding redemption from failure.

When you’ve spent most of your adult life trying to avoid failure it is more than ironic that we talk so openly about some of our biggest mistakes. Fear of failure…more than that…the fear of others opinion of my failure caused me to hide and pretend for years. What is amazing to me is how redemption only comes from failure. In order for something to be redeemed, something has to be lost. God specializes is redemption.

So often we don’t experience it because we leave God out. We undermine His redemptive process by trying to redeem ourselves. Sadly, that leaves us more messed up than before our failure. I did this for years.

Here are some things I’ve seen in my own life that prevent God from using our failures for His redemptive purposes:

1. Hiding Our Failure

It is amazing how hard we work to try to hide failure. We perceive failure to be something to avoid at all cost. Failure means we are weak. Failure means we aren’t good enough. Talented people don’t fail. Godly people don’t fail. Successful people don’t fail. If we can avoid failure, or at least avoid admitting we have failed then we can control other’s perception of us. The more we operate out of our fear, the more we allow pride to take root in our heart. God shows up when we come out of hiding. Redemption comes as our failure is exposed. So often what prevents us from finding the fresh start we so desperately desire is admitting that we need one in the first place.

2. Lack of remorse over our failure.

There were so many times that when my mistakes were exposed, I was more remorseful for the consequences that I was for the mistake, itself. It is easy to build a case for why our choice was justified; how our failure was someone else’s fault or we just want our mistake to go away. I’ve seen the redemptive process in my own life and in the life of so many others be cut short by a lack of remorse…the Bible calls it repentance. There is a promise associated with our remorse over our failures: “A broken and contrite heart, God will not deny.”

As I look through Scripture, I see a bunch of messed up people. I see people who made promises that were broken. I see people that loved God with all their heart and failed Him miserably. But I see a God of redemption. I see a God of second chances.

I see a God who longs to redeem our broken choices and failure. He longs to use it for His eternal purposes, as we embrace Him and not our attempt to make up for our failure.

Do you struggle with a fear of failure?