Fear of Failure

One of the great fears is fear of failure. This can include moral failure or practical failure. I am convinced that inadequacy is humanist guilt. People throw out moral standards and replace them with secular standards that are often more severe than the moral ones. It is not enough to be a virtuous person; you must be a success. This turns us away from things that we can at least in principle control to things we frequently have no control over. Now Christianity says that all of us are moral failures (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Isaiah 64:6), but we can be forgiven in Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 8:33,34; John 3:16-18) if we put our faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:4,5; Philippians 3:9). Also, while a willingness to work is a moral requirement (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; Ephesians 4:28; Proverbs 6:6-11), we should not hold ourselves or others responsible for success, something we can neither control or demand. Rather, we should recognize that God is in control of our lives (Ephesians 2:10;1:11; Romans 8:28) and we need to trust Him with them (Proverbs 3:5,6; Psalms 127:1,2; 37:3-6). But it is easy to compartmentalize and to believe our sins are forgiven by God but our failures are still something we need to feel guilty about. However, we need to get rid of the dual standards and apply God's forgiveness to everything that requires forgiveness. That we may not be burdened down by unnecessary guilt and unnecessary fear.