Dharius Daniels - Faith After Failure

I want to discuss this subject during our time together, part 2, million 693 thousand of Faith University. I want to address the topic of faith after failure. Faith after failure, ladies and gentlemen. I can make very few guarantees in this life, but there is one I feel very adamant about articulating and feel safe suggesting: there is one aspect of our existence that every single individual watching and listening to this message will ultimately and inevitably experience. You, sir, you, ma’am, will experience failure. Failure can be defined, listen to this, as a situation or an occurrence in which something does not work out as it should. A situation or an occurrence where something does not work out as it should. If anyone were to honestly audit their life, they would have to admit that in one area or another, they have experienced failure or are experiencing failure, where there are some outcomes that are inconsistent with our expectations. There are things that we, in good faith and with good measure, attempted to accomplish and achieve. We invested time, talent, and sometimes even treasure, only to experience outcomes that were disappointing and sometimes pushed us to a place of despair. We will ultimately deal with a degree and dimension of failure, no matter how proactive we are, how passionate we are, or how prepared we intend to be. This is a relentless stalker-like reality that, in one season of your life or another, will chase you down, tap you on your shoulder, and say, «Sit with me a little while.» We will all face the reality of failure.

I feel safe suggesting this for three reasons. This is going to be an inevitable reality for us for three reasons. Here is number one: it is an inevitable reality because you and I are imperfect people. When I say imperfection, I don’t mean we do some things imperfectly. The nature of imperfection suggests we do everything imperfectly. There are some things we do better than others, but we engage in no activity at any point that is independent of some sort of mistake, consciously or unconsciously. This means there will be times when we contribute to our own calamity. Despite how well-intentioned we are and how meticulous we are, because we operate with a degree of imperfection, it means we don’t operate with omniscience. There are some things I don’t know, so I’m making decisions with the limited information exposed to me. The quality of my decisions is tied to the quality of my information. As confident as I may feel at times, I must recognize there are still some things God knows that I don’t know. We’re imperfect. This means I make imperfect decisions. Watch this: it also means I have imperfect emotions because God is the only one who feels perfectly. Everything He feels should be felt. Just because the feelings are real doesn’t mean they’re right. Because my emotions are imperfect, it means sometimes we’re offended when we shouldn’t be; sometimes we feel neglected when we shouldn’t; sometimes we feel dismissed when we shouldn’t. But God has perfect emotions. When He feels jealous, He should. Because we are imperfect emotionally, it means that our emotions, from time to time, will impact the decisions we make, leading to imperfect decisions. I’m going to mismanage some opportunities, make some mistakes with certain relationships, and misstep in certain conversations. It doesn’t mean I’m evil; it just means I’m imperfect.

The distinction between imperfection and perfection is a human-divine distinction. It is what separates the human from the divine. The reality of my imperfection is not intended to make me feel less about myself; it is not intended to make me feel worse about myself; it is intended to make me feel better about God, right? The revelation of what I’m not should not produce a focus on who I’m not. The revelation of what I’m not should produce a focus on who He is. I need Him; I love Him; He’s keeping me; He’s protecting me. A wrong decision still led me to the right room. That wasn’t you, that wasn’t me; that was God. An imperfect person. But not only are we imperfect people, and that’s going to contribute to things not turning out as they should, we are also in relationships with imperfect people. Yes, sir. Are y’all ready for this? If you’re ready, put «yes» in the chat. If you’re not sure, I don’t know yet. I thought I was ready earlier, but I wasn’t. Here it is: I want you to catch this. Our lives are not only impacted by the reality of our imperfections; our lives are also impacted by the imperfections of those with whom we are in relationship. This is why God, I don’t want this to turn into a conversation on moralism or behaviorism; that’s not where I’m going with this, but God says a whole lot in Scripture about behavior because He’s not just thinking about you. He understands that the implications of our behavior go beyond us. This is the way Solomon put it in Proverbs 13:20: «Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.» I become like who I walk with. I don’t have to be a fool to suffer harm; I just need to be a companion of a person who is spiritually insensitive and unaware. Are you hearing what I’m saying? When you have children, your life is impacted by their decisions. When you…