The Fear of Failing—Part 2

Yesterday, we talked about the fear of failure. Today I want to talk about it again, but in light of our purpose as Christians…namely, to reconcile the world to God.

In 2 Corinthians 5, we are told about the ministry of reconciliation, and what that entails. Basically what Paul is getting at is that people are spiritual beings, not just the flesh and blood that we see walking around. Every person is to be viewed from this spiritual standpoint. When we do that, we stop seeing people as flesh and blood that is here today and gone tomorrow, but as living souls that will live forever in one of two places…heaven or hell.

When we have this perspective, we begin to realize the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says that anyone who is in Christ has become something new. We long to see this renewal in the life of everyone we come into contact with. Now here’s the interesting part of all of this: as Christ’s ambassadors (vs. 20), we have been given the message and the ministry of reconciliation (vs. 18) to share with those who are dying without Christ.

That’s a pretty huge responsibility when you get right down to it. It’s enough to make anyone fear the prospect of failing at it. But here’s the wonderful thing about this message: all we are called to do is share it. We are not called to reconcile anyone, we are called to share the message and ministry of reconciliation. We are called to show people that they can be reconciled to God…not reconcile them ourselves. The fact of the matter is that God has already done the prerequisite work of reconciliation when He sent Christ to die on the cross. That’s why when people are now “in Christ” they are a “new creation.” God does it through the work Christ already did.

So what does that mean for us? It means that we don’t have to fear failure. Let me put that another way…we should fear failing our task of sharing this message, but we shouldn’t fear that people will reject it, because some of them will. But their receptiveness is not the issue. The issue is our obedience in sharing the message of the Gospel.

So, when you think about it those terms, there really is nothing to fear!

Think about that today! And God bless you!

Share in the comments below how you seek to share this message of reconciliation with the world around you, and maybe even some of the results!