Hey, go ahead and fail.

Seriously. Fall flat on your face.

Photo by Daniel Tafjord on Unsplash

I want you to fail. I want you to try some things and just fall flat on your face.

I especially want you to try the things that God tells you to try. The things that seem too big. Too grand. Too hard. Too stupid. I want you to try and do those things.

And then I hope you fail at them.

Why? Because when you try those things—especially when you try to be obedient to God—you are going to fail. And in that failure, something incredible is waiting for you on the other side: God. And his grace.

I read something this morning that was so simple and profound. It’s from Thomas A. Kempis, an ancient writer who penned The Imitation of Christ. As I was doing my abiding time this morning, I read one his entries and this is what it said:

“He who tries to escape from obedience runs away from grace also.”

Dang.

See, I think so many of us run from obedience. We are stubborn, yes. But honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to fear. We fear what obedience will cost us. We fear what we will miss out on. But we especially fear failure. I know I do.

Can I let you in on a secret? That failure is a feature not a bug. I know that may be too “techy” for some of you, but the point is this: We are actually meant to fail. We can’t do it—this, that, whatever—on our own.

In fact, we can’t perfectly obey!

My family and I attended a different church this Sunday and the pastor was giving a passionate message on the 10 Commandments. And the point was not, “You need to follow these every day.” No, the point was, “You can’t follow these. These are what a holy God requires, and guess what: you can’t measure up. And that’s why you need Jesus! The 10 commandments show you just how often you fail on your own and that you need someone to rescue you!”

In other words, our failure to even follow basic rules of morality leads to some really good news: Jesus.

See, we can’t perfectly obey what God has called us to do. We just can’t. We’re flawed human beings. But when we fail, as Kempis points out, we actually come to experience and understand God’s grace more. But you want to know the irony? When we experience that grace, it actually helps us an motivates us to obey more! Because we obey not out of obligation but out of gratitude. We start understanding our own inabilities and shortcomings, and realize we need help.

Friend, I know that intimately. Not just because of my alcoholism and sobriety journey, but because of what God has been doing in me over the last year. I’ve begged him for clarity and direction. I’ve done things he told me to do that didn’t make sense. I thought those were the key. I thought they would lead to certain places that I was really excited to go. Only to be left confused.

And while he has given me bits and pieces of the bigger picture, it has largely been else.

Until this past weekend.

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But getting to this point took so many failures. Failures in faith, failures in obedience, failures in so many other things. And those failures forced me to Jesus. Forced me to grace. Forced me to God.

That’s why I want you to fail. Because when you fail—not if—you realize your need for someone greater than yourself. You realize your need for God.

And he meets you.

I’m also reading through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, and it continues to blow my mind. Not surprisingly, after I read from Kempis about obedience, the chapter I read from Blackaby was about… obedience. Her’e’s what he said:

“God makes Himself known to increase our faith so we will obey Him.”

And you know when I really see a lot of God? When I fail. Stumble. Mess up.

Friend, when we fail God makes himself known. And when he makes himself known it increases our faith. And when our faith increases, it makes that whole obedience thing a whole lot easier. It’s just a weird little circle.

So go ahead seek to be obedient. Do the crazy thing God is asking you to do. The weird thing. The thing that doesn’t make any sense at all. Try it.

Fail at it.

And when you fall flat on your face, maybe realize that’s exactly where God wants you—on your face, seeking him. Because when you’re there, you’re right where he wants you. Because that’s where you realize his grace truly is sufficient.

And that’s a really great place to be.