Redefining Failure

Fully Known, Fully Loved

When analyzed closely, some of the most admirable parts of our lives—a good work ethic, a well-kept home, an excellent GPA, perfect Sunday School attendance—are simply the outworking of a fear of failure. Rather than pursuing goodness through our achievements, we are actually just preventing the shame of our potential failures. 

Finally facing failure full-on can be the greatest gift we’ll ever experience. Acceptance based on your ability to hold in, cover up, and stress out about all the ugly stuff isn’t really acceptance at all. Once you take the vulnerable step of allowing someone to see the fullness of your failures, you embrace the freedom of being fully known and truly loved. Failure doesn’t seem so fearsome and the gospel message resonates more deeply.

Finding someone to know us and love us can seem impossible. The good news is that Jesus has already seen our failures—past, present, and future—and deemed us worthy of his love and his life. Failure provides a platform for forgiveness, grace, growth, and unconditional love. We cheat ourselves out of experiencing redemption when we build a facade around the failings. Achievements and failures don’t factor into Jesus’ equation, so we can stop doing the math. In Him, we are fully known and fully loved.