John Maxwell wisely observed, “A person must be big enough to admit mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”
Who doesn’t make mistakes? The Apostle Paul was quoting the Psalms when he said, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one,” which means that all of us have made mistakes. Yet there are some who will never admit to a mistake, which implies that they certainly are not smart enough to profit from it or strong enough to correct it, according to Maxwell.
We all make mistakes. Are we big enough to admit them? Unforgiving mistakes can keep us out of the Kingdom, so the price for refusing to admit to them is huge. The first thing that we need to do is recognize what we have done and confess. We certainly should confess in prayer to our Heavenly Father, as John advises us when he says: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” John uses that big little word “if,” which means serious consequences if we do not confess. No confession means we are not forgiven, we are not cleansed from our unrighteousness, and, as well, we are not profiting from learning from our mistakes or working on correcting them.
We also need to confess our sins to others. James tells us, “Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed”. We are to help bear one another’s burdens, as Paul tells the Galatians, and by confessing our sins and praying for one another, we strengthen each other on the way of life.
We particularly need to confess to someone whom we have wronged. There are twelve words that can work wonders in our relationship with others as well as with our Heavenly Father. They are: “I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you.” We mentioned these words in a talk given overseas some years ago, and afterwards a sister came up with tears in her eyes and said that she had been married for 25 years and not once had her husband ever said he was wrong, or was sorry, or asked to be forgiven. Either she was married to a remarkable fellow, or he has a problem and is not big enough to admit to his mistakes. We do hope he told her during those past 25 years that he loved her.
Once we confess, the next step is to learn lessons from our mistakes so we do not keep repeating them. Merely mouthing the words, “Forgive us our trespasses” is not enough. There is a problem if we continually repeat the same mistake. However, we all have this body of death that is prone to sin, and, as Paul admitted with horror, at times the good he should do he did not do, and the evil that he did not want to do, he did. We must, from the heart, confess when there is something that we should not keep on doing, ask for God’s help in resisting, and then take appropriate action to increase our resistance. We need to think carefully about what we can do differently so that we can avoid that mistake, and we must resolve ourselves to do it.
Resisting takes strength. The third point that John Maxwell made was to be strong enough to correct our mistakes. Once we have truly asked to be forgiven we must deliberately take steps to avoid making the same mistake again. These steps may involve physical action such as fleeing in the opposite direction. Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife when she tried to seduce him. Paul exhorted young Timothy to “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. Too often we tell sin, “Go away closer”. A gambler finding himself near a casino may think that he won’t go inside, but soon may find himself in the door, sitting on a stool, “just to look around,” but getting as close as possible to the sin he wants to avoid.
Job said, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl”. Jesus tells us that we can be guilty of adultery just by thinking suggestive thoughts. Job’s method to avoid this temptation was by deciding not to look. We need to examine the circumstances that lead to the sin we have asked to be forgiven for, and then avoid repeating it by choosing to stay away from whatever might tempt us to do it. We may need to restrict places we go, stop associating with certain people, censor what we read, or change our habits, so that we can avoid those temptations that we find hard to resist. We must learn from the mistakes we have made and find the strength to avoid them in the future or they will be the undoing of us spiritually.
Jesus tells us that “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”. There is a glorious future awaiting us if we are willing to make the effort now to live faithful lives pleasing to our heavenly Father. We take comfort in the promise that: “There hath no temptation taken us but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.”
We can overcome with God’s help, and God will not try us beyond our ability to resist. Let us then draw on this God given strength and triumph over the temptations we face. Let us confess our faults, learn from our mistakes, correct them with all our hearts, and thank God for the salvation and forgiveness he has brought us through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One