Failure: The First Step to Victory

Romans 7:15-25…For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 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.

Paul tried to do the right thing, but, like us, sometimes he failed. In his letter to the Romans, Paul seems to agonize over his inability to triumph over sin at every confrontation in his life. Don’t we all feel like Paul at times? We want to do what’s right, but our actions don’t always represent our true desires. However, Paul learned that failure shouldn’t be condemning – in fact, it taught him one invaluable lesson: "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).

Here are some things to remember about defeat:

1) Defeat is often engineered by God. God isn’t after self-improvement. He is after death – death to our flesh, which leads to life in Him.

 

2) Defeat is often essential for God to fulfill His purposes in our lives. When we are broken to the point that the only place we can look is up–and see Him–then we begin to see the purposes and plans He has for our lives.

3) Defeat exposes our weaknesses and inadequacies. Our best efforts never match what God can–and wants–to do in us and through us.

Defeat in our lives doesn’t mean we are defeated. It’s merely God’s way of pointing us to ultimate victory.