Skip to main content

Stop Hiding Your Mistakes

                If you are job hunting in the future, do not be surprised if you are asked to submit two resumes: a traditional one that lists your accomplishments and a second one that lists your failures.  To a society that spends a lot of time bragging about itself, a resume of mistakes may seem like a silly idea, but we usually learn a lot more from failure than we do from success.  As well, the ability to deal with disappointment and to adapt to unfavourable circumstances is a valuable skill-set.  Therefore, employers are wanting to hear about a person’s full range of experience, rather than just the shiny, cleaned up versions of themselves that show up on the traditional resumes.
                That sort of thinking and honestly would go a long way to helping the church as well.   Unfortunately, a quick look at all the smiling faces on any given Sunday morning would make it hard to believe that anyone struggles with anything.  Too often, we only see a fake, cleaned up version of one another and this is causing the church to lose one of its most important messages: Repent!
                To repent simply means “to turn around” or “to go a different direction”.  It is such an important concept, that it is the very first word Jesus says when he starts teaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near!” (Matthew 4:17).  In fact, Jesus’ whole job was to call “sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).  The disciples, in turn, “preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12).  Rather than hide our struggles, scripture says that Christians ought to, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other” (James 5:16). 
                These days, because everyone is pretending to be perfect, it seems that no one repents of anything, but that is wrong!  Repentance is not a one-time thing that you did forty years ago when you were baptized and never think about again.  Rather, it is an on-going attitude that constantly allows us to get back on course and to help one another.
                Churches will become more effective when we stop pretending to be something we are not and admit our need for God’s power and his grace.  When we understand that mistakes are part of the growth process, we will acknowledge them, learn the lessons that they teach and go a different direction.
                After all, Jesus came to turn us around. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Twenty-three Descriptions of God (Psalm 145)

  Let’s play a quick game.  Take 10 seconds and list 5 or 6 words to describe God.  Got your words?  Good!   Here comes the game part.  I will list twenty-three ways that David describes God in Psalm 145, and we will see how many of his words match yours.   David says that God is, the king, great, majestic, wonderful, powerful, awesome, abundant in goodness, righteous, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love, good to all, glorious, mighty, trustworthy, faithful, supporting, generous, providing, near, saving and watching.     How did you do? This is not a useless exercise.  The words we use to describe God not only indicate something about how we see him, but they also influence how we interact with him.  For example, if I know that God is “Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (verse 8), I will not fear him, and I will not assume that he is against me.  When I remember that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: What is so Great About Grace?

If you were to drive by our house, you would see that Sara loves plants.  Our yard is full of flowers, and Sara lovingly tends every one of them. Which is why I was so afraid when she left town and put me in charge of keeping things alive. She must have been a little concerned, too, because she sent me two videos with specific instructions on how to water, when to water, and what to do.  Honestly, those first two videos helped, but the third one she sent was the one I liked most.  In that one, she said, “Please do your best. I want the yard to look good for the family reunion in two weeks.  However, if something dies, we will dig it out and pretend that it never existed!” That is what grace looks like!  Try your best, do what you can, but if it goes wrong, it will be ok. Sometimes we talk as though grace and effort are opposites.  That is not true.  They are partners. In one place, scripture asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone c...
Post a Comment
Read more