One of the hardest parts of living a life of love is the fear of failure. Time and time again, that fear will keep us from showing up, trying, risking, or being vulnerable.
And yet, failure is a valuable territory to occupy, scary as it is. Because that’s exactly where God can meet us, mold us, and send our life on a beautiful new trajectory. Failure is the space where we stop looking to ourselves and start looking to God for life. Failure is the doorway that leads us from who we are to who we are becoming.
One of the most powerful stories in the Gospels that illustrates this concept is the relationship Jesus has with Simon Peter. At a crucial point, Jesus gives Simon a new name: Peter. It means “rock.” But later in the story, Peter is going to be anything but strong and steady. He denies knowing Jesus when Jesus was most in need of a friend. Maybe Jesus got this whole “Rocky” thing wrong?
But Jesus doesn’t give up on Peter. After his resurrection, he finds Peter, draws close to him, and brings him back into the truth of his new name. Just because we don’t always act like who Jesus says we are, doesn’t mean we’re not learning to live into that newness through our failures.
As Bob Goff is challenging us to “do love,” it is so important that we find a way to give our failures a place within the truth of God’s story. Otherwise, we’ll never do anything! So hear it once more right now: the good news of the Bible is that we are no longer defined by our failures. We are defined by Christ. Jesus is now our true identity.
And when we fail, Jesus comes to us and says, Here I am. Time to get back in it. For I can see who you are becoming… and this is a necessary step in the process.
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