CAR DENT

I’ve recently noticed a strange phenomenon:  While driving, someone pulls out in front of me, I slam the breaks, only to see the exact place on their vehicle where I would have hit them, they already have a large dent.  In one form or another, this has happened to me several times, recently.  I guess people aren’t learning the lessons from their past mistakes. 

Mistakes are great teachers, if you allow them to be.  But we believe the lie, “This time it will be different.” It never is.  In fact, if you seem to find yourself repeatedly struggling with the same issues, you need to ask yourself, “Am I learning the lesson I’m needing to learn?”  God is a great Teacher.  It’s not like the school system that might pass you just to move you forward.  God’s more interested in you learning the lesson than taking you to the next level.

Here are some lessons regarding mistakes:

Don’t return!

¹¹ As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly. ¹² Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 26:11-12

Nasty verse? Yes! But an important point.  I think, why did the dog vomit in the first place?  What he ate made him sick.  So, what does he do?  Goes back and sniffs it, licks it, and eats it again.  Gross? Yes.  So is the sin we return to.  It hurt you last time.  The next time around doesn’t get any better.

Don’t dwell!

¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

Philippians 3:13

Where’s your focus?  Is it in pursuing what God has next for you or the pain from the past.  When driving, there are two places to look, the rearview mirror or out the windshield.  If your focus is on where you’ve been and not where you’re going, you’ll either miss something you needed or hit something you didn’t mean to.

Don’t give up!

¹⁶ For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Proverbs 24:16

No one who falls down physically, stays down.  They get up.  Don’t stay down emotionally, spiritually.  Get up!  Too many settle in their fallen state.  They camp out, put down roots, linger in that down position.  They toss around some Pier One throw pillows and make themselves at home in the location of failure.  But God’s Word says:  Get up!  “But I’ve fallen 7 times!” Don’t give up!  Get up!

Don’t miss the lesson!

²¹ Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly. ²² Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established. ²³ A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is! Proverbs 15:21-23

Allow your mistakes to be your teacher.  The problem isn’t making a mistake.  The problem is not learning from them.

Don’t miss God!

²³ The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. ²⁴ Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. ²⁵ I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. ²⁶ He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. Psalms 37:23-26

Follow God and your steps will be stumble-free.  But if you do fall, remember the character of God:  Mercy!  He doesn’t kick you when you’re down.  He doesn’t say, “That’s what you get you vile sinner!”  His heart is to pick you up, dust you off, and if its sin, He forgives.