Love Does Challenge Day 2: Fail... On Purpose

Bob talks in the Love Does Study [session two] video about how our failures become opportunities for God to break pieces off of us so there’s more for Him to work with.

Today you’re going to give God some new raw material.

One of the deep, inner dynamics of experiencing the love of God is recognizing when you are in a place of failure and receiving love right then and there. This is hard to do. When we fail, we want to judge (ourselves or others), get angry, or make excuses to protect our hearts. We end up only doing things we already know we’ll be good at so we don’t have to experience struggle.

What if, instead, we intentionally put ourselves in a place of failure and then practice keeping our heart open toward God and receiving His love? Here’s how this works:

Think of an activity you know you’re not very good at or is a challenge for you. Some suggestions are listed here, or you can pick your own:

• Take a class at the gym or engage in an exercise that you don’t normally do.
• Write a poem and read it aloud to another person.
• Dance where others can see you.
• Write a five-minute speech on something that matters to you. Get at least two or three people together and present the speech.
• Other: [Your Response].

Don’t choose an activity that could have serious consequences or is foolish (running a marathon with no training or not finishing a project at work). Once you determine your activity, pick a time, say a prayer, and do it. It will likely be frustrating, difficult, and possibly embarrassing. However, try to stay open to God’s love, and see what happens.

Reflection Questions:

• What was the experience like?
• What was your initial impulse when the going got tough?
• Was it easy or difficult to receive the love of God in the midst of failure?
• How might this lesson be transferrable to other areas of your life?

“It has always seemed to me that broken things, just like broken people, get used more; it’s probably because God has more pieces to work with.” @BobGoff #LoveDoes

Content adapted with permission from Love Does Study Guide: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World (Thomas Nelson, 2014), by Bob Goff with Dixon Kinser, copyright Bob Goff.

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