What Have You Learned From Your Mistakes?

Why haven’t you taken care of that problem in your life yet?

What has gone wrong in your life? More importantly, what did you learn from it?

Are you living the same mistake right now?

Here I am reading the Bible again, and yes, another life lesson. The Bible has more lessons than we can keep up with. You’ll like this one I think. And I hope it helps you like it has me.

King David knew what it was like to fail. He desperately wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, but he did it the wrong way. Instead of following God’s instructions, he placed the ark on a new cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to steady it, and God struck him dead - that’s how Holy God’s stuff is.

David became angry, discouraged, and afraid. The ark remained in the house of Obed-Edom for three months.

Three months later, David tried again. This time, he didn’t assume he knew best. He searched God’s Word, discovered how the ark was supposed to be carried, and humbly admitted his mistake:

“The last time we did not ask the Lord how to carry it. You Levites didn’t carry it, so the Lord our God punished us.” (1 Chronicles 15:13, NCV)

David didn’t blame God. He didn’t blame Uzzah. He didn’t blame the Levites. He simply admitted, “We did it wrong.”

When I confess, I grow, I humble and I change. How well do you confess your wrongs - then change, even seek forgiveness for your wrongs? I think this may be one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity - or just plain maturity.

There’s an old saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The point isn’t assigning blame. The point is learning. If we keep repeating the same mistakes, it’s often because we’ve never honestly dealt with the reason behind them. How well are you dealing with your mistakes. Are you living in one right now?

I once heard someone say, “We shouldn’t have bad days, only learning days.” I like that. Failure is a terrible thing to waste if it teaches us something. Why do we learn mostly from pain? But some don’t … why is that?

One of my most repeated failures has been my tongue. I can be a smart-aleck and have very little patience. I’m much better than I used to be, but I’m still a work in progress. Sometimes I speak before I think. Hot head, loose tongue - mercy.

Sometimes I know exactly what I’m about to say isn’t helpful, but I say it anyway. Why? Because I’m still being changed. I’m a slow process …

The Bible calls that process sanctification. The moment we trust Christ, God declares us righteous because of Jesus. But from that day until the day we meet Him, the Holy Spirit patiently works in us, changing the way we think, speak, love, forgive, and live.

Sanctification is simply the lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus and “doing” what He does. None of us arrives in this life. We are all under construction. But some out there are just plain knuckle heads.

So let me ask you something. Are you changing? Are you more patient than you were five years ago? More humble? More forgiving? Does your spouse, your children, your friends, or your coworkers see Christ becoming more evident in your life? What would they say about you?

Do you ever stop and honestly evaluate where you still need to grow?

The path forward isn’t complicated, but it isn’t easy. We confess our sins. We repent - that means we change direction. We seek forgiveness from God and from the people we’ve hurt. Then we get back up and keep following Christ. It’s actually quite amazing.

Unfortunately, that’s not what most of us naturally do. We defend ourselves. We justify our actions. We minimize our sin. We explain it away. We blame someone else.

Why? Because pride hates confession, but humility welcomes it. Real change always begins when we stop protecting our image and start pursuing holiness. So what about you? What are you pursuing?

If you would, just stop for a moment and ask yourself, am I in the middle of repeating the same mistake again? What area of my life needs to change? Have I asked God to change me—not just my circumstances, but me? Have I ever prayed, “Lord, expose my sin. Show me what I don’t see about myself?”

That can be a sort of a scary prayer. Why? Because He will answer it. But that’s also how we grow. God loves you too much to leave you where you are. Do you want to stay where you are?

If you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. As followers of Christ, we should strive to live transparent and honest lives. That doesn’t mean everyone needs to know everything about us. It means we stop pretending. We stop wearing masks. We stop defending what God is trying to change.

Maybe today is the day to make that phone call and confess. Maybe you need to find someone and sit down and say “I want to tell you what I’m struggling with and I need to be accountable to someone - will you be that person??

Maybe it’s time to sit down with your spouse, your child, a friend, or someone you’ve hurt and simply say, “I was wrong. Please forgive me.” Or ask them where you need to grow. Are you brave enough?

Or maybe it’s time to tell a trusted Christian friend, “Enough is enough. I keep repeating this sin, and I need help. I want to change.” Don’t climb hard mountains alone.

Then ask God to do what only He can do. Ask Him to change your heart. Ask Him to expose what doesn’t belong there. Ask Him to make you more like Christ. And when He does, don’t resist Him, just follow Him.

David failed. David learned. David confessed. David obeyed. Now it’s your and my turn.

LORD, expose our sin. Help me confess what I know needs changing. It’s just time. Help me be a good steward of my life. Help me grow please. IJNIP amen ♥️

(You know you got a good wife when she straps on a back-pack blower)