The Triumph of Failure
Underneath the gilded exterior of the social media persona lies the ugly truth of failure. In an age where an otherwise average and even broken life can be so easily hidden beneath the flimsy veneer of a filtered and ultra-modified snapshot, the truth is that behind the smile, the milestone achievements, and the sculpted timeline, there exists the frailty of the human condition.
While such a failure fits the framework of our nature the confession of our failure is about as unnatural as it gets. The bar of unrealistic accomplishment and unimaginable achievement is set high in the world of digital reality -or “unreality” as it were. Our epic push toward perfection has completely mangled the beautiful truth revealed by our failures. The truth that, well, we’re not perfect.
The beauty of Jesus is seen much more clearly through the lens of realism. He is not an addend to the already supremely balanced equation of our existence -He is the solution to it. Jesus, in His perfection, came to satisfy the sum of our compounded failures. While such a deficiency cannot serve as a legitimate excuse to stop reaching for maturity in God it exists as both the proof of our sincerity and the reminder of our inability.
Failure is in essence the evidence that we have, at least, reached for something greater than we are today. While true completion can only be found in relationship with Jesus, failure toward that end indicates an internal reach toward what He considers excellent. If the sum total of our deficiency reveals the excellencies of Christ’s lavish grace, well, then, may He be glorified to the uttermost.
“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
