Shackled to Failure
Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36 (NKJV)
We are all familiar with Walt Disney's success. But we may not be familiar with the failures he endured before he became a household name. Before Mickey Mouse, Snow White, his successful movies and Disneyland, Walt Disney worked hard to make a success of producing cartoons but failed repeatedly. In 1920, he launched Laugh-O-Gram Studios. After a couple of years, the studio went bankrupt. With $40 in his pocket, he left for Los Angeles, where his attempt to work as an actor failed.
He then launched another studio in his uncle’s garage in Los Angeles. Here he created the cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. After signing a contract with a distributor in New York, the cartoon became successful. However, Disney did not pay enough attention to the details of the contract or the integrity of the owner. This cost him dearly. When he went to New York to talk to them, he realised they had stolen his team of animators and the legal rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Instead of condemning himself for his lack of wisdom in his dealings with the New York company, he looked ahead to what he could do and what he was good at. On the train ride back to Los Angeles, he created Mickey Mouse. And the rest, as we say, is history.
No Condemnation
We all face the very difficult reality of failure. We fail to obtain a job. We fail at building a successful career. Our relationships fail. Our marriage fails, and the list goes on. When we experience this kind of failure, we can easily fall into self-condemnation. Our self-condemnation will shackle us to our failures if we allow negative emotions such as fear, shame, anger, and hopelessness to overtake us. But Paul says this in his letter to the Romans,
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NLT)
As followers of Jesus Christ, we belong to Him. We have been bought with a price – His precious blood. His precious blood has set us free from self-condemnation. Self-condemnation is not an emotion that originates with God. It is a lie from Satan. He wants to keep us in a space where we are so wrapped up in our self-condemnation that we cannot see the truth of what Jesus has done for us and what He wants to do in our situation. 1 John 3:20 (NIV) says,
“If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”
God knows everything we go through. Let us run to Him with our self-condemnation. When we do, He will unshackle us. He will set us free and place our feet in a spacious place. He will rescue us because He delights in us.
He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:19 (NIV)
Reflection:
Have you succumbed to self-condemnation because of your failures? Know that Christ has set you free.
Prayer:
Lord, You see that I’m overwhelmed by fear and hopelessness because of my failures. I release them to You. Unshackle me, Lord, from the self-condemnation I’m wrestling with. Rescue me. Set me free so that I can walk in Your freedom. In Jesus’ name, amen.
