Dealing with Failure

In Romans chapter 8 we have what many call the greatest chapter in the bible. Romans 8 opens with us who are in Christ suffering no condemnation due to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Romans 8 closes with us never being separated from the love of Christ. It is indeed a chapter that stirs the soul and encourages the spirit. But for me, Romans chapter 7 is an equally great chapter in the bible. Romans 7 is the valley before the heights of chapter 8. It is a chapter about failure, yet ultimate victory.

To paraphrase the message of Romans chapter 7 is to basically say this: The things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things I don't want to do, those things I do. Now for many of us this is a description of our walk with Christ at many times. No matter how hard we pray, how desperately we struggle, how sincerely we try, we enter periods in our life where we seem to continually fall short of what God desires. In other words, we fail. We fail in our witness. We fail in obedience. We fail in faithfulness. We fail, and yet, we are not alone.

You see, Romans was written by the apostle Paul. Paul is viewed by many as the greatest Christian of all time. Paul, called as an apostle by Christ Himself on the road to Damascus. Paul, who Jesus revealed the mystery of the church too. Paul, who suffered, and persevered, and exalted Christ as much as many man ever has. Paul is the one who wrote; the things that I want to do, I do not do, and the things I don't want to do, I do.

You want to know about Paul, take a minute and read 2 Corinthians 11:18-33. View for yourself in scripture the sacrifice Paul made for the gospel. Yet even Paul dealt with failure. As discouraging as it is when we fail in our walk with Christ, we can take heart that even the greatest soldiers in the bible have also failed Jesus at times.

So how did Paul, and how should we respond when we fall short of the standards of God? Are we capable in our own power of overcoming our sinful nature? Is the answer what someone like Oprah or Dr. Phil will advise us to do? Where should we look for the answer to overcoming our sinful nature? We should look the same place as Paul.

As heartbreaking as it is when we read of Paul in Romans 7 or experience in our own lives the failure that comes with falling short, their is victory in one place. Romans 7 closes with these words in verses 24-25; "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

Friends, this is the transition from the failure of Romans 7 to the victory we view in Romans 8. How do we pass from failing God to receiving no condemnation and never being separated from His love? "I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" It is only through Jesus we can overcome the flesh and the world. It is He only who has gained victory over death and the world. Are you struggling with failure in your walk with Christ? Reflect on the words of Paul in Romans 7. Claim the victory that Christ has already won! The more wretched we recognize ourselves as, the more we will depend upon Him.

This is what Paul did. Paul in his ministry, as he walks closer and closer with Christ, views himself with less and less esteem. He goes from the "least of the apostles," to the "least of all the saints," to at the end of his life he views himself as the "chief of all sinners." Is this how we view ourselves: wretched, the least, the chief of sinners? When we do realize that the closer we draw to Christ, the less we become, we'll gain victory instead of suffering failure. As John the Baptist said in John 3:30, "He must increase, and I must decrease." You see, the more of us their is, the more we'll fail. The more Jesus their is in us, the more victories we'll experience. Are we willing to humble ourselves to gain the victory?