What should I do when I fail?

Let’s get right to the point.

• Proverbs 24:26 – “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.”
• I John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

“After each failure ask for forgiveness, pick yourself up and try again.”

“For however important purity may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still.”

“It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven.”

“No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard.”

“The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us: it is the very sign of His presence” (C.S. Lewis).

• I Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
• Proverbs 3: 5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”

Steve Cornell

Additional resources: 

• When we confess our sins
• Reaching the Inner circle of confession
• Guilt