Friday, August 28, 2009

Mistakes


Mistakes


“And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”

2 Thessalonians 3:13(NIV)

One thing I find interesting is that there are no coincidences when it comes to what God is trying to teach us. It seems here lately that even through reading, preparing lessons, or listening to others teach I seem to hear the same bible stories, scriptures, principles, or characters. Do you ever notice that happening with you? I’ve been doing a lot of reading and teaching on David and Solomon. Both of these men did great things, followed God, and led God’s people, however they both also made mistakes and like most of us sometimes when we make a mistake if we’re not honest, admit it, and learn from it, we do the opposite which is ignore it, deny it, make excuses, blame others, cover it up, rationalize or justify it, pretend it doesn’t exist and it will go away, or hide from it.

David was in God’s own words “a man after my own heart”, Solomon was given wisdom and blessings from God and called “the wisest person to ever live” yet both of these men made mistakes. The man with the same heart as God committed adultery, tried to cover it up, and had someone murdered. Solomon the wise, married many foreign women and allowed them to bring in their “false religions” and have places built in God’s land where people could worship these false God. Both God’s men, both led and blessed by God, both failed God. There are other people in the Bible who God chose, called, and led, yet they decided to follow their own desires. Peter, Mark, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, Noah, and the list goes of people who made mistakes.

I think we can learn a lot from these stories and men in the Bible. First, no matter how close we are to God or how good a Christian we think we are, we are all capable of falling away, making mistakes, and not being in God’s will. Secondly, I think we can also learn the best way to overcome a mistake(s) is to face it, deal with it, and learn from it . Thirdly, we need to repent to God and seek His forgiveness and guidance. Finally, we need to move forward and be better because of it. No one is going to go through life mistake free. We are capable and subject to temptations especially during weak times, tough times, problems and struggles. I will be the first to admit my past has many mistakes in it and I hope in my present I will continue to learn from them so that my future will have less of them.

God is always trying to teach us, lead us, grow us, and keep us in His will. We have so much to lose when we make mistakes and fall short and don’t recognize it, deal with it, accept it, and learn from it. We have everything to gain when we like David and Solomon and many others, become better because of the lessons we learn from our mistakes and accepting responsibility and the consequences, so that God can use us again. I would not be writing this devotional today if my past mistakes were still unresolved and not dealt with and not been washed in God’s grace. Thank you God for erasing our mistakes when we truly repent and seek to honor you. As the scripture teaches us, we must never become tired of doing what is right.

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