One
of the hardest parts of life is admitting you were wrong about something. No one wants to say “oops” – we
all want to be in control of our actions all the time, and what’s more, we want
others to know that we are in control all the time.
But
we still make mistakes.
This
past weekend, I made a mistake, and that mistake was to forget to apply bug
spray to the exposed parts of my body as I spent some time outside. Oops, now I have fifty bug bites that cover
my feet and calves.
Fifty
is a conservative count.
As
I treated the angry, itchy red bumps that caused my feet and legs to swell, I
regretted my behavior, regretted the non-decision to take action against little
critters which love to bite under the cover of darkness on my back patio. I hate to admit it, but I was wrong; I hate
to have to take care of fifty itchy, red bumps.
But they are a consequence of my actions.
Several
days from now I will brush off the incident; if anyone asks I will make light
of this situation, will laugh and joke about never to forget bug spray again,
but I’m telling you now: having this many bug bites sucks, no pun intended. I was stupid to have forgotten the bug spray;
I take full responsibility for my actions.
As
a parent one of the hardest jobs is to teach kids responsibility. We go from doing everything for our children
to giving them the space they need to do things for themselves, mistakes and
all. It’s hard because we get into a
routine of helping or doing everything for them, and to watch them struggle or
do things differently or more slowly than we can is hard to watch. But they must learn responsibility.
As
a stay-at-home mom whose job of doing for my family has gotten lighter over the
years, this responsibility is tough because I have the time to do things for my
kids. There are certain jobs that I
expect them to do that I could easily do, like unload the dishwasher, clean
their rooms, or take out the garbage. But
I don’t, because the kids need to learn responsibility, learn that if they don’t
unload the dishwasher, the dishes will pile up and create more work, that if
the garbage doesn’t get taken out we will soon have a very stinky house. Oops.
Taking
responsibility for mistakes is no fun; we feel silly, like we lose face in front
of others. We are taken down a notch or
two. Owning mistakes humbles us, and we’d
rather stand tall and proud rather than admit, chins down and eyes to the floor,
that we did something wrong. We feel
foolish. We don’t want to say oops. We want to say I got this; this is no problem
for me.
Jesus
never made a mistake, and his example and lessons are scattered throughout the
New Testament. He teaches us how to live:
be gentle, be merciful, love God, share the gospel, mend broken relationships, stop
judging, don’t worry, and on and on (see Matthew 5:3-16, 23-24, 6:25-7:1-6). Paul teaches us to be renewed and to follow
the example of Christ (see Ephesians 5:1-2).
Neither tells us that we will avoid mistakes, that we should avoid the
consequences of our actions. There are
no promises that we are capable of lives without mistakes. In fact, we are promised that we will make mistakes (see Romans 3:23).
Sometimes
we lose control, and it is a problem, and we must own our oops: admit it,
humble ourselves before God and everybody, and try to do better next time.
In
my case, remember the bug spray.
Always remember the bug spray.
*******
Don’t try to avoid responsibility
by saying that you didn’t know about it.
For God knows all hearts, and he sees you. He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows
you knew! And he will judge all people
according to what they have done. Proverbs 24:12 (NLT)
For
all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 (NLT)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9:8-10 (NIV)
When I get really high and mighty and can't think of thing I've done wrong lately (who me?), I remind myself that failing to realize that I've sinned also fails to understand who Jesus is and the magnitude of what He did for me. It is in those truly broken places at the depth of my sin where I start to grasp the magnitude of His love. But too often, I'm like a little child, letting the dishes pile up and ignoring the garbage because I can deal with it later. Oops.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you are saying. We are experts at deceiving ourselves.
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