The Roots of Spiritual Failure

There is an insightful little passage in Mark 14 where Jesus predicted the falling away of His eleven disciples (Mark 14:27–31). By this point in the story, Judas had already left the group to permanently betray Christ, but now the faithful eleven were brought face to face with the prospect of their own temporary defection. Within hours they would all “fall away” resulting in one of the saddest discipleship failures of all time.

What strikes me about this passage is how clearly you can see the roots of the disciple’s public failure—especially Peter’s—in their private response to Christ (Mark 14:29, 31). Hours before they publicly defected, they had already failed Christ at the heart-level. And it’s in their private response to Christ that we can see at least four critical roots of failure that we all must address if we would walk faithfully with Christ.

Root One: Undervaluing the Word of God

Jesus unequivocally predicted the disciple’s failure:

You will all fall away, because it is written, “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Mark 14:27, quoting Zechariah 13:7).

There was a double certainty about the prediction. Not only did Christ predict it but so did Zechariah. Yet, Peter was defiant. Instead of humbly submitting to the Word of God, he rose up against it, saying

Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.

He couldn’t imagine failing one he loved so dearly, so he brushed aside the word of Christ and elevated his own judgment. It was a demonstration of proud unbelief.

Anytime a disciple dismisses or debates the word of Christ in their hearts they’ve already failed. Unless they quickly repent and restore the value of the Word in their hearts, their failure will only compound.

Root 2: Proudly Seeing Yourself as the Exception

Pride whispers: “you’re different.” Peter believed it and therefore said:

Even though all may fall away, yet I will not. (Emphasis added)

He was the exception to the rule. How many struggling disciples live today as if God’s promises, warnings, and instructions apply to everyone else but not to them? Not only is that a root of their misery but it’s also a root of their spiritual failure.

To look in the face of God’s word and claim to be the exception to the rule is blatant pride. And pride always leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18).

Root 3: Comparing Yourself to Others

In his response to Christ, Peter was clearly measuring his strength by the weaknesses of others: “even though all may fall, yet I will not!” His words betray a measure of self-confidence that can only be sustained by lesser, horizontal comparisons.

If Peter would have compared himself to Christ—the exemplar of humanity—his pride would have folded. So too would the pride of every other disciple. It’s only when we see ourselves in light of Christ’s excellencies that we see ourselves rightly, our pride collapses, and we begin to cut the roots that lead to spiritual failure.

Root 4: Overestimating Your Spiritual Strength

Lastly, and maybe most obviously, Peter and the disciples overestimated their own spiritual strength. Even after Jesus reiterated the certainty of their failure in verse 30,

Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny you!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

Each of these men loved Jesus and couldn’t imagine betraying him. Yet, none of them understood how weak they really were. Jesus had just told them in the upper room: “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But, like so many disciples after them, they didn’t quite believe Him. So they moved forward trusting in their own strength to be faithful and quickly learned how barren their resolve truly was.

Conclusion

Do you want to set yourself up for spiritual failure? Here is how it begins: undervalue the word of Christ, see yourself as the exception to rule, compare yourself to the sinners around you, and rely on your own spiritual strength. Let these roots continue to grow and greater failure will inevitably follow.

On the other hand, the one who—with God’s help—labors to pull up these roots will find himself going from strength to strength (Psalm 84:5–7).