There is a famous quote that is attributed to the poet Erin Hanson that goes like this; “What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” The fear of failure or the fear of falling short is one that often holds us back. We may not try out for a certain sport team because we are afraid of not making it. We may not apply for certain schools because we are fearful that we will be rejected. If you do fear failure, worry not! You are not alone! But we need to make sure that we, as faithful Christians, approach this fear of failing correctly, otherwise, we could certainly find ourselves failing. The quote above certainly motivates us to, at the very least, understand that we may not fail.
Nonetheless, we will fail from time to time, and we will fall short, despite how hard we try. Romans 3:23 makes this clear for us in that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. While we should certainly strive for Christian success, it should give us comfort to know that we all have experienced failure and falling short. “As it is written, ‘None is righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1-3).
This leads us to another question, “What should I do when I fail or fall short in my efforts?” First, let’s look at an example from Genesis 4. Here we ead the story of Cain and Abel, brothers to each other and children of Adam and Eve. We also learn that Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground (verses 1-4). However, the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard (verses 4-5). Scripture does not tell us why Cain offering was inferior, only that it was not up to the standards God had expected from him. We see that Cain, because of his own short coming, became very angry and fell on his face (verse 5). God then tells Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you but you must rule over it.” (verses6-7). Unfortunately, when we continue to read this story, we see that Cain did not react to his failure and shortcoming appropriately. He took the life of his own brother as result.
While there are many lessons that can be drawn from the portion of scripture, I want to bring to your attention the understanding that, unlike the choices that Cain made, you do not have to have the same unnecessary reaction to your failings. God says that if we do well, we will have His acceptance. But, He also warns us that, when we do not do well, the opportunity for us to sin falls directly in our laps and is waiting for us to react sinfully. We need to make sure that we, as Christians, have an understanding of how to deal with our failures. I love the Erin Hanson quote mentioned earlier, but do keep in mind that, even when we do fail and fall short of His glory that, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins,…” (1 John 2:1-2). This means that, even when we do fall, we still have the opportunity to fly because of the wonderful works that Jesus Christ accomplished!
