Wolincircus.com

Lessons from Failure

One of the most interesting confluences of the good purposes of God intersecting with the evil plans of man is the lessons that can be gained from failure. And when I say failure, I mean failure in the sense of disobedience to God. This may come in the form of lust, pride, lying (shading the truth), gossip, jealousy, selfishness, etc. I try to make it a habit to write down lessons I learn when God grants me grace to return to my senses. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

1. Moving from godly, Christ centered thinking to pure sin and fleshly indulgence does not take very long. My gut instinct would think that if I was meditating on the sacrificial love of Christ and being blown away by his love that this picture of Christ would sustain me for a long period of time. It is my experience that the power of the flesh can creep in within minutes and steel away this perspective if I am not actively guarding against it.
2. A warning sign for a drifting heart is idleness and boredom. The way overused phrase, “an idle heart is the devil’s workshop” is not overused for no reason. It seems to me that boredom stems from being distant from spiritual reality. No solider is bored in battle. Since we are all in a battle (for purity, for souls) boredom is a sign that we have lost touch with reality.
3. A third warning sign of the impending danger of sin is succumbing to “small” sins. The sin of an undisciplined mind will quickly spiral into greater sin if not repented of. The sin of gossip will progress into hatred, church splits, etc. The sin of pride and selfishness will progress into marital tension, bitter arguments and divorce. Not caring about sin that God brings to mind seers the conscious and kills godliness
4. Not believing that God’s way is the best way is at the heart of every failure. Failure to acknowledge that my sin is shaking my fist at God’s expressed good plan for my life makes sin seem innocuous when it fact it is obstinate disobedience. The heart doesn’t have to shake the fist at God in order for the action to be perceived as outright rebellion.
5. Bible Reading does not insure successful sin-free living. Bible reading that seeks to make Jesus the treasure in your life does insure sin free living
6. Not asking for Jesus’ help guarantees failure. Pride kills spiritual progress since at the heart of sin is an unwillingness to surrender to Jesus and admit inferiority.
7. A focus on performance rather that Jesus guarantees failure. Outward indicators of success are incredibly attractive for me. I love to look at what I have accomplished externally and totally ignore the heart issues.
8. History of success breeds spiritual pride and makes the soul lazy. Take heed, lest I fall.
9. One of the best lessons that comes out of failure is learning that at any moment life can spin out of my control reminding me that I was never in control.
10. When I have sinned, normal life decisions are so difficult to make and there is virtually no assurance that God is with me when I fail.
11. The gross feeling that is inside of me when I sin lasts for days and weeks. It is not worth the momentary reward it offers. Holiness is built like blocks. Sin knocks the tower over and I have to rebuild it again.
12. Depression is often linked with disobedience.
13. Distance from Jesus dries out the kindling of the flesh so that the slightest spark ignites evil desires. It seems to me that the strongest temptations are at the tail end of a spiritual dry spell.
14. Lukewarmness is another way of talking about distancing oneself from Jesus. If I am lukewarm in my love for Christ, I am on the road to failure.