Fear of Failure | The Worshipper's Thought of the Day

While getting ready this morning to tackle the day, my mind pondered fear of failure.  Now we know that GOD has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).  Therefore, all fear--aside from that of the reverential sort for GOD--is rooted in the Kingdom of Darkness.  As my pastor says, the word "fear" is best understood as the acronym "False Evidence Appearing Real."  Our adversary is strategic in his presentation of false evidence because he's an illusionist.  That's why it's not enough for us to consider what it looks, sounds or feels like.  We must consider what we believe and know--that is, what the Word of GOD says.  After all, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7); and it takes us mastering our faith walk to avoid being tricked by illusions of what appears real.

Ironically, one of our greatest fears as humans is that of failure, the illusions of which will still us INSTANTLY.  It's part of our human nature to hate to lose because we're so competitive.  And somewhere along the way, we've equated the failure of an effort on our part to the emotions associates with the pain of loss and the agony of defeat.  Just because something may not have worked out as anticipated does not mean we've lost anything or experienced defeat.  But yet we've all agonized over our lives' failures like they were the end of the world.  Far from it! Encountering failure presents us a golden opportunity to make improvements designed to increase our potential for success in the future. 

So many of us are sitting on gifts and talents graciously given to us by our GOD.  And the overwhelming majority of us use fear of failure as our excuse of choice.  Let's consider the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  A master gave each of his three servants talents, as he proportioned for them, to grow, develop and nurture while he was away (Matt. 25:15).  One particular servant chose to bury his talent (Matt. 25:18) because of his fear of failure.  Afraid that he might not obtain the results desired, he did absolutely NOTHING with what the master had given him.  Oddly enough, the servant assumed his explanation to the master upon his return would bring pleasure (Matt. 25:24-25): "...'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error.  I was afraid I might disappoint you...'" (The Message Remix).  However, the master's reaction--a most stern rebuke--was quite the opposite.  The servant was acknowledged as being both wicked and lazy because he was unwilling to at least try (Matt. 25:26-27).

The crazy thing, though, is that the servant knew the master's expectations and--best believe--the master called him on it--"...'If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?'" (Matt. 25:26-27, The Message Remix).  In other words, we can't pull the wool over our Father's eyes with flattery.  Since we claim to know so much about GOD and His ways, then why do we walk in disobedience towards Him by burying our talents?  We have NOTHING to fear, so what's the problem?  If we be truly honest with ourselves, it just might be that we're rebellious and lazy.