I met with one of my RAs, and he said, "I have felt a lot lately like I have been letting everyone down."
I asked him how it was he thought or felt like he was letting me down. He said he just felt like he was failing at stuff.
"Maybe I shouldn't be doing this, I think!"
"Now THAT would let me down, " I said.
I continued to let my RA know he has not let me down, and the reason is because I expect him to fail. He will make plenty of mistakes and poor choices as an RA, and I expect him to do so. I told him that by knowing this, he will now be a better RA.
My walk with Christ soared once I realized God expected me to fail. Why? Because him expecting me to fail means he does NOT expect me to be perfect. Now THAT is good news.
There is freedom in knowing God expects me to fail and loves me despite my mistakes and trips. There is freedom because now I can take more risks. I can go after my faith without abandon or fear. I no longer have to maintain the perfect Christian facade. I can now dive into my faith head first.
"But you still make mistakes!"
Yes, I certainly will, and those mistakes will go challenged. Each poor choice, mistake and failure will come with its fair share of conviction and consequence. There will be these mistakes that come along, but God expects those and loves me despite them.
Brennan Manning writes, "God expects more failure out of you than you do."
Today, I have realized how freeing that really is. So my RA could face confrontation when it happens knowing I expect him to fail from time to time and learn from them instead of obsessively side-stepping them. He can go all out and be willing to take risks that some choices may go wrong, but that's okay. He does not have to be perfect or the best RA ever. I don't expect him to be.
I told him, "You won't let me down by failing. The only way you will let me down is if you give up."
I believe God expects more failure out of us than we do. So we don't let God down when we fail, make mistakes or ask questions. I think we let God down when we just give up, because when we give up we aren't even willing to fail.
Where's the faith and trust and risk in that?