LEARNING DAILY

 

Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

Genesis 50:20, But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is today, to save many people alive.

 

As I was considering and writing the page for the blog about what I would write to a “younger me”, I had to consider my many failures over the years. I could have included a lot of things I would like to do over. Did you consider what you would write or tell to your “younger you”? Did you consider things you would like to be able to do over? I wonder if the mistakes we have made help us grow, mature in our spiritual walk, as we walk the narrow way to eternal life in God’s kingdom.

 

Please don’t misunderstand. I am not trying to justify bad behavior in my life. The verses above tell me there are going to be bad things that occur in my life. Sadly, we continue to sin after we accept the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. We must admit our sin(s) when we commit them, repent, and His grace, oh His grace, is with us! There is evil all around us; it is everywhere. The temptation to give in to it is continual, relentless eve as it pursues us. People want to see Christians fall; they celebrate when we fall into their traps. But God, in His faithfulness and His grace helps us and strengthens us and picks us up when we fall; we must turn to Him, asking for Him to forgive us and make us stronger in following Him.

 

I doubt that any Believer wakes up and looks forward to making mistakes that day. The reality is we all make mistakes; we all sin. We have heard that we must learn from our mistakes. God forgives the mistakes we make when we confess them. Be careful – this is not a get out of free card. He tells us to “go and sin no more”! I believe good can come out of mistakes and sin; being forgiven is to be aware of how mistakes happen and to learn from that. For me, mistakes begin with the thoughts I allow to become actions. Sometimes, I allow thoughts to stay around too long, allow visuals to stay too long in my mind. Before long, they become words spoken or actions done I wish I could take back. Again, I don’t plan this and do not like the consequences that result.

 

If one can let go of their mistakes by confessing them, be forgiven, learn from them, it seems to me spiritual growth will occur. That would be a good thing for the kingdom of God. From experience, there are some things that seem more difficult than others to remove from our lives. We must have a plan in order to avoid mistakes, especially those that cause us the most difficulties. For example, the one who has a problem with alcohol better not enter a bar or put themselves in a place where temptation would be overwhelming. The examples could go on and on –you need to plan to not put yourself in a position to be tempted beyond your limits. If you sin, confess it and let it go! God understands, forgives, but wants you to stop sinning! Keep yourself in God’s Word and before the temptation occurs, pray for God’s strength and wisdom to keep and deliver you from temptation. Then be obedient!

God doesn’t always keep the mistakes from happening. But He is with you, providing a way of escape. Nothing catches Him by surprise; nothing is too big for Him to redeem, to forgive us. Learn from your mistakes. In doing so, we are reminded that we are human and imperfect. That is not an excuse to sin! It does help us to move from relying on ourselves to rely on God to cleanse and purify ourselves.

 

I have found through my failures, through my disappointments, drawing close to God is the only way to be obedient and content. Like learning to touch a hot stove is painful and something to not do again, learning from mistakes makes me want to follow God in obedience to His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Learn to see God’s purpose in your life through the mistakes you make!