Richard Wurmbrand was a pastor who suffered lengthy imprisonment and unimaginable torture at the hands of the Romanian communist regime before he was ransomed by a Norwegian organization in 1964. He and his wife Sabrina eventually moved to the U.S. where he became one of the most influential mouthpieces of the persecuted Church and founded Voice of the Martyrs, a worldwide organization ministering to Christians suffering for their faith.
In one of his writings, he muses that in countries where Christianity is illegal, a believer might be hindered from engaging in ministry to the underground Church for fear of imprisonment, torture, and death. He goes on to say that fear is no less of a decisive hindrance to Christian life in what we call the free world.
However, it’s a different fear. We need not be afraid to be arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or put to death for our faith by the government as is the case in a growing number of countries.
At least not yet.
We fear that we have to suffer in our family and social circles, our jobs, and our finances if we obey Christ. However, perhaps the biggest and most insidious fear we carry is the fear of making mistakes. I think that is where many of our “I could never” statements come from when we hear of others doing great things for Christ. We fear the loss of our creature comforts, our comfort zones, and making mistakes that would suggest we have failed.
Wurmbrand goes on to say: “The greatest mistake is to fear mistakes. We all have tasks from God. It is better to fulfill them with mistakes than to leave them unfulfilled.” 1
That is one of the messages in the story of Peter walking on water in Matthew 14:22-31. The biggest failure was not Peter who desired to come to Jesus so much that he got out of the boat, fully believing that he could walk on water only to discover that fear of the wind and the waves would destroy his faith and cause him to sink. The failures were the eleven disciples who never got out of the boat but held on to their comfort zones.
It is also the moral of the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The servant who buried his talent for fear that he would make mistakes and incur the wrath of his Master ends up incurring that wrath for not trying.
The same goes for us. If we know that God has given us everything we need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:3), has equipped us with spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-7), and has given us as members of His global Church a Great Commission in which he promises to be with us always (Matthew 28:18-20), we can not sit back and let the fear of making mistakes hinder us.
Faith, in this case, is believing that God will work despite our mistakes and that we will grow and learn through our mistakes. It is a form of prideful unbelief to think that God demands perfection and will punish us when we don’t achieve it, or that we will somehow ruin HIs plans and purposes by making mistakes.
I am reminded of a fellow pre-university classmate of mine who chose glassblowing as his senior project. On the day of his presentation he had filled several tables with all his failures at blowing shapes out of glass. His paper described how he had made his attempts and what he had learned from each of his mistakes. Despite his failure to ever produce a perfect shape, he got an A on his project. Why? Because he was able to demonstrate that he had been undeterred by his mistakes and had turned them into opportunities to acquire knowledge and experience.
We may think we live in a free world, in which we are by law protected from persecution because of our faith. But there is no such thing as a free world. Satan is the god of this age and has created a world that is hostile to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. His preferred method for keeping people in bondage to him is fear. Where he can’t use governments, he will use culture. In our “free world” he has created a mentality that glorifies performance and success and where people who have “made it” and can prove that by their wealth and achievements are glorified. Few realize that the by-product of a success-driven culture is fear of failure by making mistakes, and that this fear has taken up residence in the depths of our souls where it hinders us from stepping out in faith to do the tasks God gives us to spread the gospel and build His Church.
We must face that fear, acknowledge it, repent of it, and renounce it as something that does not belong in our Christian life when God has promised to be our all in all.
By confessing our fear of making mistakes to God, we give it over to Him and invite Him to replace it by faith that He works in us to wil and act according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). That’s out first step toward a fearless life.
Then we must get out of the boat of our comfort zone, do the tasks He puts in front of us, and entrust our mistakes to Him in the knowledge that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we do, our mistakes will become the very vehicles that bring us experience, insight, knowledge, and growth.
Are you ready to face your fear of making mistakes and step out in the faith that God is your all in all?
A whole new world will open up for you!
1 Whom Shall I Fear? A devotonional by Voice of the Martyrs, VOM Books 2023, pg. 26