“What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” That was the motivational catch-phrase of years past.

Current best-selling author Brené Brown has added a significant twist by asking, “What’s worth doing even if I fail?”, crediting Theodore Roosevelt when he said, “If he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Brown should know: She’s a researcher on vulnerability and shame whose first TED talk about these issues hit a record-breaking 10 million-plus viewers on YouTube. Her five NY Times best-selling books have been translated into numerous languages, and her various seminars, talks and articles dominate the internet, translated into many languages. The message Brown is telling the world is that vulnerability (merely showing up and being present, win or lose) is the secret to “wholehearted” living. And the world is listening.

Vulnerability in Christian Leadership

But what about the Church, particularly us as leaders within it? Are we listening (not necessarily to Brown but to this idea of vulnerability)? One would correctly argue that the Church has a different goal than the world. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism clearly states: “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

So, we know that the “right answer” for Christians is not about succeeding or failing (or even “showing up”) but rather to “glorify God.” However, if we’re honest, the idea of glorifying God rarely allows for anything close to what one would consider “vulnerability,” let alone “failure.”

Ministry ventures that deliver “lackluster” results are often judged to be “lacking proper planning and faith” or being “outside of God’s will.” A change of direction in ministry without “logical reasoning” can also be suspect. However, might the result of those ministries’ be precisely what God had planned? Is there a possibility that those ministries fall perfectly within His will?

Peter – A Portrait in Vulnerability

In Matthew 14, we see the famous story of Peter walking on water. It began with the disciples in a boat as a storm started to form. Jesus had sent them off without Him, and then, early in the morning, He came walking across the water. They were frightened, thinking Him a ghost.

Jesus comforted them, saying, “Don’t be afraid. Take courage. I am here!”

It was only Peter who responded: “Lord if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

In this passage, Peter’s “impulsiveness” is often made to be the focus despite the text speaking to the contrary. In reality, Peter demonstrated healthy caution (“If it’s really you”) coupled with submission shown in words (“Lord”) and actions, all with a willingness to wait on Jesus’ command (“tell me to come to you”).

It really was the Lord, and He did call Peter out. How frightening and exciting that must have been!

If Jesus had answered, “No, stay there!”, before Peter jumped out of the boat, those who remain critical of Peter’s impulsiveness might have grounds to criticize. Peter didn’t act impulsively, but instead, was merely obedient. Jesus called, and he came.

The story goes on to say how Peter saw the crashing waves and was understandably terrified, and began to sink. Thankfully, Jesus didn’t abandon him to sink completely. Peter cried out, “Save me, Lord!” And Jesus reached out and grabbed him.

Walking on Water is Not the Goal

There are many great things to observe and learn from this passage. But it is the oft over-looked conclusion of this story that may be the most critical point in the entire narrative.

“When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”

They saw that it was Jesus and worshiped Him!

Look at what happened here:

Peter demonstrated supernatural discernment: He recognized it was the Lord when the others were afraid, thinking He was a ghost. However, that didn’t convince those in the boat that it was indeed Jesus.

Bold declarations of submission to Jesus’ Lordship and willingness to bravely obey any command (“LORD – call me out!”) didn’t cause those in the boat to worship.

A definitive “call from the Lord” on Peter’s life still didn’t make the others in the boat realize who it was out there on the water.

Even Peter’s ability (albeit short-lived) to perform a supernatural manifestation (walking on water) had no positive impact on those in the boat.

It was when Peter began to sink, and Jesus rescued him, that those in the boat finally recognized that it was the Lord. Each one of those former fishermen had likely gone overboard at one time or another, but none of them had ever been able to save themselves. It was in Peter’s attempt to be obedient that the common weakness of his humanity revealed the strength of Jesus’ divinity. Only then was Jesus seen and worshiped by those still in the boat. To put it plainly, Peter’s “not being completely up to the task” showed how much Jesus was.

Long before He called Peter out, Jesus knew that Peter would begin to sink. From the start, Peter was insufficient for the call, but Jesus wasn’t. And He called Peter out anyway, just as Jesus has called many of us out.

Afraid of Vulnerability

Among those who strive to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, fully aware of our weaknesses, there is comfort in understanding that we are not expected to walk on water or be perfect. We know this. We remind ourselves of the truths in scripture such as, “we have this treasure in jars of clay.” So often, however, we work hard not to let any cracks in our “ministry pots” show. Like Instagram influencers setting up for a selfie, we’re sure to display only our “best side” in ministry, lest any perceived weakness or vulnerabilities show.

And this is understandable because Brown’s research overwhelmingly reveals that people equate vulnerability to weakness. In actuality, vulnerability is simply the potential for weakness. Brown’s study also showed that both acknowledging and walking into vulnerability was the most effective way to prevent mistakes and combat weaknesses. For believers, this should sound familiar, reinforcing what we accept as true; that “His strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Brown goes on to assert, “When we pretend that we can avoid vulnerability, we engage in behaviors that are often inconsistent with who we want to be.” And yet, even as Christians, so often we do exactly that; we run away from vulnerability and straight into behavior that is principally opposed to who we are and what we believe.

Because being vulnerable is frightening. Walking out on the water means we might start to sink. So, missionaries carefully craft newsletters to put the right spin on projects that didn’t turn out as planned. Photos are cropped to show a full hall, not empty chairs. Pastors stay in the pulpit even when they begin to sense a call to a different field. Changes in ministry direction are filed under the heading, “Well, we all miss God’s will sometimes.” Everything from tightly scheduled events going off schedule, to sparse turnout, to our programs, to less than “smooth operation” of our churches, you name it. And the critics send us into a tailspin of blame (self-directed more often than not), as well as doubt and depression.

So somewhere along the line, a few things begin to happen. We’re already following Jesus. We’re even gotten into the boat when so many stayed on the shore. But we can’t see everything clearly, and we begin to get frightened. So, we stop asking Jesus to call us out further. Or we don’t step out when He does call. Even if we do step out, instead of enjoying the thrill of obedience, walking with Him into the impossible, we’re preoccupied with not sinking. And when we do start to sink (as He knew we would before He even called us out), we work on damage control for those who might have seen us go under.

Jesus already knew what would happen when He called out to Peter, yet He called him out anyway. In the same way, He knows where and when we will start to sink, but He calls us out nonetheless. Why? Because God’s ultimate goal for us is not to walk on water. God’s ultimate goal (and therefore ours, too!) is that others would see Jesus and worship Him, using whatever it takes.

Embracing Vulnerability

George Markey, the founding pastor of the CC work in Ukraine, used to say, “Where we admit that we are weak, there God will be our strength. But where we try to be strong by ourselves, there God will be weak in our lives.”

This concept is made most explicit in Jesus’ life. The vulnerability that allowed Him to be tortured and crucified must have seemed like a failure to many looking on. But when God raised Jesus – fully man, dead in the weakness of human flesh – to new life, all of Creation saw Jesus, the resurrected Messiah, and worshiped Him. Showing the weakness of His humanity highlighted the strength of His divinity.

God does not ask us to be vulnerable because He delights in embarrassing us. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Rather, God’s great desire is to take us into His presence, beyond the fear of our limitations, and into the freedom of His limitless love! He invites us to be crucified with Him “in order that we too might walk in newness of life!” Vulnerability leads us to die to our sense of control, our pride, our fears and into the safety of His love. God wants us to know the power that comes when “perfect love casts out all fear.” God called His own Son to walk as a man, in ultimate vulnerability, so that Jesus might be the perfect demonstration of God’s perfect love. Jesus became vulnerable for love’s sake, and it’s for love’s sake that God calls us to vulnerability as well.

Stepping Out of the Boat

Peter stepped out. Peter made himself vulnerable, and he attempted to do what God was calling Him to do. Peter understood something that Pastor Paul Billings has said so well: “The truth is, if we don’t attempt, then we have already failed. The absence of failure is not ‘success.’ I wonder how many of us feel that we are succeeding in what God wants for us just because we aren’t experiencing failure. I would suggest that if you aren’t experiencing failure at times, then you probably aren’t attempting much.”

So, there’s Peter. He was bold, but he was also cautious. Peter waited on Jesus’ call and obeyed. He was also human, and he sank in the waves when he doubted. But he stepped out! Jesus taught him through this. More importantly, when Jesus rescued Peter out of his “human-ness,” others watching recognized that Jesus was the Savior, and they worshiped Him. Peter knew the love of his Savior. It was that love that spurred him headlong into some of the most vulnerable places of obedience.

Similarly, may we understand the love of our Savior, who modeled vulnerability to the point of death for us. May we also be willing to embrace vulnerability at His bidding; because it’s then that Jesus is revealed. And those who are watching will worship Him.

“But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (Genesis 39:21).

When Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave, they had no idea that they were the first group of God’s people to intentionally send a fellow member of His family across a massive geographical boundary and into a radically cross-cultural living situation.

But viewed through a sovereignty of God’s lens and using the bigger story of the whole Bible to frame the specific events that took place in his life, it’s easy to see that his mean-spirited and poor-representatives-of-the-true-and-living-God-brothers were simply the vehicle that God used to send Joseph on a mission for His glory and the good of his own people AND the Egyptians.

JOSEPH WAS A CROSS-CULTURAL MISSIONARY

Put as simply as possible, God used these self-centered and self-serving people to send a missionary.

Although Joseph’s life can and should be viewed as a model for cross-cultural effectiveness, in this post I’d like to focus on one specific moment in the roller coaster life he lived in Egypt.

The backstory leading up to this verse is this–Joseph had been falsely accused of attempted rape by the wife of his boss and sentenced to prison.

It’s important to note that God permitted this false accusation to be made, and He also permitted Joseph to experience the consequences of that misinformation being taken seriously.

HIS PRESENCE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

But as is always the case with those who are truly His people, especially when they are enveloped by life-altering difficulties, God was with Joseph even in the midst of the prison.

We have no record of God specifically promising to be present with Joseph, but as the first part of this verse makes clear, He was present with Joseph with him during his undeserved confinement.

Clearly, Joseph knew His God and although the Bible doesn’t say so specifically, that is evidence of a very real and intimate prayer life. He was an incredible man of faith whose relationship with God was so vibrant and so obvious that unbelievers he came in contact with recognized that it was His God’s hand on his life that made him so different from everyone else.

An extraordinary prayer life is the only path to the kind and depth of relationship with God that Joseph had.

Having said all that, I don’t believe I’d be wrong to assume that when he was accused and then imprisoned, Joseph probably amped up his already healthy prayer life and pressed deeper in to His relationship with God.

Now when I think about all that had happened to Joseph previously and then try to envision those things happening to me, I guarantee you that I’d be begging God for mercy.

IF I’M WRONGLY IMPRISONED, BEING DELIVERED IS HOW I’D DEFINE MERCY

And I’d be defining and describing the mercy I’d like God to bestow on me using only seven words: “Lord, please get me out of here!”

Whether that’s what he prayed or not, this verse tells us that God did show Joseph mercy.

But God describes and defines what mercy looks like for Joseph at that time–He gave Joseph favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison.

If I was Joseph and I had prayed for God to be merciful to me in the midst of these events that I didn’t contribute to, it would be very difficult for me to believe or understand that God’s definition of mercy was favor with the prison warden for another two years, rather than releasing me as soon as possible.

Yet that’s exactly what the Bible says.

WILL WE PERMIT GOD TO DETERMINE WHAT MERCY LOOKS LIKE?

You see, whether we like it and agree with it or not, it’s God Himself that defines and determines what mercy is, and how He will bestow it.

And as this episode and the rest of Joseph’s life makes clear, the unrecognized mercy He grants to His servants will always be what’s best for us, for others and for His glory.

The fundamental lesson, as I see it, is that there will be times when the way we want Him to answer our cry for mercy will be in conflict with the way He actually does.

When that happens, we need to ask Him to give us the lenses we need to detect His mercy in ways that are very different from what we were expecting.

There was a time in my life when I was totally paralyzed by fear. I lived in a perpetual panic attack for a period of about six months. At that time, I believed that I was physically sick; I was having strange and terrifying symptoms that were all too real, and I became convinced that I was dying. I lived with the Damocles of imminent death hanging over my head daily, and it was terrifying. I felt I had lost myself to fear; I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Gone was the joyful, fearless girl who had backpacked around the world (often alone). Now she was replaced by someone who was afraid of the dark, afraid of night time, afraid of everything!

Somewhere toward the end of the six-month period of being totally railroaded by the lie that I was sick, and I was going to die, I decided to tentatively look up a support website for anxiety. You must understand, that during this period of panic I didn’t actually realize I was suffering from anxiety, I just thought I was profoundly, physically sick with some catastrophic disease the doctors simply hadn’t discovered yet. When I went on that website and read the list of symptoms people with extreme anxiety suffer from, I couldn’t believe it. They were all my symptoms! Just then, in that moment, I had the fleeting thought, like a ray of light breaking through the clouds, “Maybe I’m not sick; maybe this is all just anxiety.”

That moment of clarity was brief. My fear wouldn’t let me off the hook that easily. But I began to understand that there was a possibility that a lie has taken hold in my mind, and I had to do something about it. From that moment on, I started to fight the lie that told me I was dying. My recovery took two years of hard battle. When I say I fought, and when in this article I speak of fighting, please don’t imagine someone standing tall, boldly declaring the word of God. Rather, picture my lying in on my side, trying to take slow, deep breathes and quietly mumbling, “God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.” During that time, I was so weak, and so in the grip of fear that there was very little more I could do, even praying scared me.

However, by continuously repeating God’s truth in the face of the lies of fear, deliverance came. I have not suffered from any form of panic attacks or anxiety for over five years. God has brought total deliverance and restoration to me, and He will do the same for you.

FEAR WILL TELL YOU THERE IS NO WAY OUT

In order to understand God’s power over fear, let’s look at 2 Kings chapter six. Here there is a story about Elisha and the king of Syria. This king was continuously and relentlessly attempting to attack and defeat Israel. However his plans were always thwarted because God spoke to Elisha and told him where the Syrians were waiting in ambush to attack Israel. In this way God protected his people from the attacks of the Syrians. The king of Syria became so frustrated that he found out where Elisha was and sent “horses and chariots and a great army, they came by night and surrounded the city” (2 Kings 6:14). This is a great metaphor for how fear works. It likes to come at night, by the cover of dark. It likes to make us feel like we are surrounded, like there are no options for us, as though there is no way out. It closes in on us and paralyzes us until its surrounding presence is all that we know, and it captures our mind in its vice like a grip. There it holds us and presses and presses, and it will not relent. This is the home of anxiety and panic attacks. This is where fear is in it’s element, holding your mind captive in the grip of it’s all pervasive lies.

FEAR WILL MAKE YOU FEEL HELPLESS

When Elisha’s servant woke in the morning, he saw that they were surrounded by a huge army. He ran to Elisha and lamented, “Alas master, what shall we do? This is a cry that many in the throws of fear have uttered. What shall I do; what shall I do? This is a feeling of being helpless, of not knowing what step to take next or how to find a way out. This helplessness is a lie; it is not true, but in the moment it feels so totally encompassing that any place of comfort and help seem far too distant to even be considered.

When the servant came to Elisha with his fear, Elisha said, “Do not be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” ( 2 Kings 6:17). Elisha then prayed to God and asked him to open his servant’s eyes, and his servant saw “the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” There is wonderful news for those of you who are in the grip of fear, while it may seem that you are surrounded and there is no way out. In fact, there is more with us than than there is with them! It is time to stop believing the lies of fear that have been gripping your mind for so long. It is time to fight those lies with the truth of God. The truth is that the fear that is defeating you daily is in fact a defeated foe. The power of God “his chariots of fire” are greater than the lies of your fear. It is time to open your eyes to the power of God and allow His truth to defeat the work of fear in your life.

IT’S TIME TO FIGHT

As I already mentioned, fear will not relent, so if you continue to let it railroad you, then that is what it will continue to do. It will not take a break and say, “Oh well, that’s enough for today, I’ll leave that poor defeated soul alone for a while now.” No! It will just keep on crushing you. This means you need to take action. You need to fight the lies of fear with the truth of God.

2 Corinthians 10.5 tells us that, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” This is not an instruction to be passive but to be active. The imperative form of the verb, “take every thought…” is a command. It is an action we are being told to take rather than something God is going to do for us. The fact is, God has already done it all. He has already won victory for us over fear, but it is up to us to hold up that victory in the face of fear, to bring our every fearful thought into obedience with the truth of the victory Christ has won for us at the cross.

Back in 2 Kings, the “lofty argument” was that they were surrounded by enemy armies, but the truth was the fiery armies of God were also surrounding them; and they were much greater and more powerful than the armies of their enemies. What “lofty arguments” have taken hold in your mind? And what is the higher truth that can be used to defeat these destructive lies of fear? Here’s an example of God’s truth in the face of fear: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

FEAR WILL BOW TO THE TRUTH OF GOD

Remember God’s truth is greater than the lies you have been so thoroughly believing. To tear down those lies will take work, really hard work. It is the action of taking those lies captive and in their place, establishing the truth of God. But at the end of that journey lies freedom. In fact the freedom is already won, but to allow it to work in your life takes work from you.

Perhaps you think you are too far gone. Perhaps you think you have lost yourself forever to the grip of fear. I know what that feels like because I have had those very thoughts myself. Let me tell you, it is not true! There is hope for total restoration and complete freedom from fear for you. I know this to be true because I have experienced it in my own life. When fear comes in like a flood, with all its lies and convincing arguments, hold up the truth of God’s word, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Know that those lies will not persist indefinitely; they will eventually bow their knee to the truth of God.

Every difficulty we experience in life is either an opportunity or an obstacle. The Chinese symbol for the word “crisis” is actually two separate symbols: one for the word “danger” and the other for the word “opportunity.” Many of us are viewing the present crisis we are experiencing as one or the other. It is either an obstacle in our way or an opportunity for the Lord to display His glory in and through our lives.

In Philippians 1:12, Paul says, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

That word “furtherance” is the Greek word prokope. It could be translated “progress, advancement, movement.” It refers to something moving forward in spite of obstacles, dangers and distractions. Commentator William Barclay said it was, “specially used for the progress of an army or an expedition…It is the verb which is used for cutting away the trees and the undergrowth, and removing the barriers which would hinder the progress of an army.” The chief obstacle for Paul was his imprisonment, but that proved to be no obstacle to the advancement of the gospel. “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.” –Francis Drake

If you’ve been in ministry any amount of time—whether it has been a week or a decade—a particular temptation will eventually come to you: the temptation to quit.

This temptation usually unveils itself in the middle of a very difficult season and may lure even the stoutest heart to fantasize about stepping away from ministry. Often, the desire to quit can show up when people mistreat us or cause heartache for us. It has even ironically come knocking on some peoples’ doors when life couldn’t get any better for them! We have all faced the pressure to give up or to give in, but especially, when times are tough.

If there’s one thing that the apostle Paul seemed to reiterate to his readers over and over, it was DON’T QUIT! Paul uses the term “persevere,” “press on,” or “strive” dozens of times in his writings to the Romans, the Thessalonians, the Ephesians, the Galatians, the Philippians and even several times to Timothy! Paul linked perseverance to character and to hope. When we stop pressing on and begin to look back and lose heart, we become stagnant and lose momentum. What’s worse is that we may actually begin to believe that giving up would be easier than to press on to the finish line.

Paul’s admonition to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2, reminds him that soldiers, athletes and farmers all have some things in common. They all have rules and parameters to work within, whether that is the soldier working to please his officer by working within the boundaries of the hierarchy of command, or the athlete adhering to the rules of the game by staying within the lines, or the farmer not planting a seed and expecting a different plant to grow. Each of these involves incredible discipline and hard work. Each of them also looks forward to an end result: a battle won, a race completed, a harvest reaped. The soldier, the athlete and the farmer must all stay the course to receive the benefit of their labor. Quitting is not an option. Here’s an exercise to practice if you are thinking about quitting:

1. Consider your calling.

Did God originally call you to this? If not, why are you still wasting your time doing what God didn’t want you to do in the first place? If you were called by God, move on to the second portion of this exercise.

2. Talk to someone.

Often we are burdened by trying to hold on to things in our own strength, rather than submitting them to Christ or asking others to bear the load with us. Have you prayed about this and then sought counsel from someone more experienced than you? If so, move on to number three.

3. Stop fantasizing.

Many people who desire to quit are romancing the ease or comfort they think they will experience if they step out of their role. But this is a lie; with God’s calling comes God’s equipping. So when you step down from a role, you are not stepping away from God’s grace, but you are stepping outside of His promised favor and provision for that particular position. If you have stopped dreaming about something else, move on to number four.

4. Get to work!

Ministry is hard! Take up the plow and get busy! Stop complaining about how difficult life is and start pouring in to someone else. Before you give up, consider the following people who decided not to quit (adapted from dailywalkdevotion.com):

At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.
At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.

At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.

At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.

At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.

At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.

At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs.

Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39 and got her own cooking show at age 51.

Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.

Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.

Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career and landed his first movie role at age 42.

Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first major movie role until he was 46.
Morgan Freeman landed his first major movie role at age 52.

Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it. Never tell yourself you missed your chance. Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough. You can do it. Whatever it is.