Flinders Evangelical Students

A fear of failure often stems from a desire of not wanting to let ourselves, or other people down, or not wanting them to think poorly of us. We often fear that our failure will cause the people around us to reject us. When fear of failure crops up in our lives we can put so much energy into trying to do better, trying to be everything to everyone, or we can push people or opportunities away because we can’t fail if we never start. All of this is a great recipe for burn out. 

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So what is the alternative? How can Jesus make a difference to our fear of failure? Jesus doesn’t mystically transform us into confident, competent people who never make mistakes or fail ever again. What Jesus does do is give us a perspective shift by showing us who God really is.  

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Jesus shows us that God knows us completely, he knows that we are unable to get things right all the time. He knows your failures big and small (even the ones that you are able to keep hidden from those around you). And Jesus also shows us that God loves us completely. God knows the very worst of you and in spite of all that doesn’t reject you. Jesus gives a perspective shift by showing that your value and worth doesn’t come from how much you can achieve, or how much you can keep the people around you happy, or how much you get right. 

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These things are true: You are bound to fail in some way or another, you are bound to let every single person in your life down at some point, AND you have immense value and are immensely loved by the God who made you. There is nothing we can do more or less that will alter how much God loves us. 

 

The Bible tells the story of God’s relationship with people through all time — it shows how God is perfect in every single way and how people have zero capacity to live at God’s standard. Yet, the Bible also shows that God loves us and values us too much to either A) reject us because of our failures, or B) turn a blind eye to them. Instead, God responds to our inability to meet His perfection by C) He offers Help — and that help is Jesus. The Bible shows us how Jesus makes right what is wrong, and enables us to have confidence to live a life that isn’t consumed by fear of failure. While we know straight up that failure is going to be a part of our existence our failure does not define who we are, our value, or our ability to be loved, and we know that God meets us with compassion amidst our failure and grows us , through Jesus, to beyond what we could ever do to better ourselves. If you want to understand more about how exactly it is that Jesus can help you in your failures then a great place to start would be by reading in the Bible the stories of Jesus’ life — reach out to connect@flinders.es.org.au and someone will gladly be in touch to chat through any questions you have, or further explore the help Jesus offers.