You Are Not a Failure

" . . . for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."

-Proverbs 24:16 ESV

Have you failed in some way? Have you fallen down? For those who believe in Jesus, that is not who you are. Failure is not permanent. Failure is not your identity. You are not a failure.

Sometimes the world, the devil, and even our own minds can beat us up. They are obsessed with success.

I was watching a sports documentary last night (which I will leave unnamed). At one point, the football coach put a running back into the game. The running back fumbled the ball twice, and the coach immediately cut him from the team. At another point, he said something like: I'm going to win and if you help me do that you can stay and if you don't you will leave.

As Christians, we have a complex relationship with success. It can be a blessing from God. It can be the result of hard work. It can be a curse from God. It can be idolatry (and so on!).

Many of our workplaces, sports teams, families, and churches are obsessed with success. Can success be a blessing from God? Yes. However, if not put in its proper place, it can lead us to pride and arrogance when we experience success, and despair and hopelessness when we lose it (failure).

Many of us will have times when we experience failure in one way or another. Sometimes our identities can get intertwined with success. Sometimes, if we experience failure, we may even begin to assume that failure is our identity. That is, we think, "I am a failure."

Let me make this exceptionally clear: You are not a failure.

Regardless of what has happened in your life, you are not a failure. You are made in the image of God. If you have faith in Jesus, you have been saved by his grace. You are loved by God. You are being shaped into a holy person (i.e., Christlikeness). And you have hope; one day you will arrive at the golden shores of eternal bliss.

In Proverbs 24:16, the inspired author wrote: "for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."

Here are 3 observations on this verse:

(1) The righteous may fall. The righteous cannot expect that they will have a smooth life without any moments of falling down. The righteous may fall.

(2) The righteous may fall multiple times. The verse says that the righteous falls seven times.

(3) The righteous get back up (while the wicked don't). This is what separates the righteous from the wicked. The righteous get back up and keep going.

According to Derek Kidner, this verse shows the "[r]esilience of the righteous."[1] God's people are a resilient people. We keep going despite setbacks and difficulties.

Kidner continues, "This appeal is to the only thing a wicked man consults: his interests. At a more modest level it is a salutary reminder that an unscrupulous victory is never permanent: you are fighting against God."[2] God's people are not self-interested in life. We are selfless. We aren't obsessed with success. In fact, it may be God's will that we experience failure sometimes. If so, we may find ourselves fighting against the will of God (and thus, fighting against God). That doesn't mean that we shouldn't seek to do our jobs and live our lives well. Nevertheless, we can have the mind of Christ, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).

Thankfully, we know that God's desire is to work everything together for our good and his glory (Rom 8:28). We also know that eventually we will be in a perfect, eternal kingdom with our King (Rev. 21-22).

In our lives, we may experience moments of success and moments of failure. As Christians, we are declared righteous because of Jesus (i.e., justification). Therefore, you are righteous in Christ. Proverbs 24:16 says that the righteous may fall many times, but they keep getting up. That means, in Christ, you are not a failure. Let's keep going.

End Notes:

[1] Derek Kidner, Proverbs: An Introduction & Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, gen. ed. D. J. Wiseman (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1964), 155.

[2] Ibid.