Responding in Faith to Mistakes

Posted by Michael K. | Filed under Theology

I made a mistake at work this week. And by mistake, I don’t mean “Oops. I accidentally embezzled thousands of dollars.” Nothing sinful, just a mistake. But whenever you make a mistake, there are consequences.

Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody fails. But I spent alot of time thinking today about how you respond to mistakes from a perspective of faith. Here are a few reflections on how the gospel can influence your perspective the next time you find yourself trying to recover from a mistake.

1. When you make a mistake, you make an error in judgment or a moment of forgetfulness. The gospel reminds you that your self-worth is not tied to your ability to perform perfectly.

2. When you make a mistake, you are tempted to hide, blame, or ignore. The gospel gives you the confidence you need to own up to it and accept responsibility.

3. When you make a mistake, you start to focus on yourself, thinking that the whole world is looking at you. The gospel reminds you that you are not the center of the universe – Jesus Christ is.

4. When you make a mistake, you find yourself wanting to do anything you can to avoid the potential of failure. The gospel encourages you to take risks instead of burying your talents in the dirt.

5. When you are around someone who has made a mistake, you can easily slip into judgment in order to make yourself feel better. The gospel reminds you that you have the responsibility to fulfill the law of Christ by bearing another’s burden.

6. When you make a mistake, you look for ways to redeem yourself in the eyes of your bosses and peers. The gospel reminds you that you have nothing to prove to anyone since Christ has proven Himself on your behalf.

7. When you make a mistake, you become afraid. Afraid of what people think, afraid of doing something wrong, afraid of the consequences. The gospel drives out fear with perfect love.

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Permalink | Comments (7) | Jun 18, 2009

7 Responses to “Responding in Faith to Mistakes”

  1. Don Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    Amen, brother. Great wisdom on how to deal with mistakes. To take that a bit further, the challenge after realizing #1-7 is that we also have to forgive those who do not forgive us (if our mistake impacted others) and to defend our hearts against follow-on attacks.

  2. Gena Rogers Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    Thanks for this.

  3. Becky Dietz Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    This is good.
    I’d read Jason Dietz’s blog this week and he’d said this and I was reminded of it when I read your blog today:

    We do not demand perfection from the great heroes of Biblical history. They were flawed, but God was working on and through them. The same is true for us. We are to hold each other accountable and help each other grow, but the legalist tears people apart. They do not build up.

    http://nonmodern.blogspot.com/2009/06/galatians-513-15-christian-cannibalism.html

  4. Jana Kelley Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    I have see you follow through in faith this week. I love living life alongside you.

  5. Sadie Anderson Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    Good stuff….I love Lewis’ view on false humility in our mistakes the picture shown by Edmond and Aslan in the Chronicles, where the White Witch is coming to get him and Edmond is looking to Aslan, the idea is that he’s not scared, not ashamed, not fearful, not even the slightest bit focused on himself, just looking to his Savior. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less” (C.S. Lewis)

  6. Mistakes « Auburn Sovereign Grace Fellowship Says:
    July 31st, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    [...] very issue is addressed in the following excerpt from an article by Michael Kelly (via the Vitamin Z blog). I made a mistake at work this week. And by mistake, I don’t mean [...]

  7. Forward Progress » Blog Archive » Happy Blogoversary, Forward Progress Says:
    June 15th, 2010 at 7:05 am

    [...] 10. Responding in Faith to Mistakes Trying to look at the inevitable mistakes we all make through the lens of faith. [...]

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