Calvary's touch-Encourages you!"Growing through Mistakes": Part-1.

Growing through Mistakes (Part-1)

Mistakes. They can be as simple as forgetting to turn off the hall light or as serious as letting the grease on the stove get too hot. The difference is that while one may cost you only a few extra cents, the other may cost you everything you own.
Today the word mistake has many different meanings. Some see it as being synonymous with sin. Others rename their mistakes experience or, like many celebrities, put them all together in a book and call them memoirs. According to Webster, however, a mistake is "a wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgement, inadequate knowledge, or inattention."
Mistakes, then, are not out-and-out rebellion, deception, or willful disobedience. Those things are clearly sin. What we want to focus on in this lesson are those honest mistakes we are prone to make that can start another growing pain.

Categories and Examples of Mistakes. In the Scripture we can see at least five kinds of mistakes and some of the things that lead up to them.

1.Panic-prompted Mistakes. Are the ones we make out of fear, hurry or worry. Like the one Abraham made, recorded for us in Genesis 12ch. Even though God had promised him land and all blessings, when a famine struck, Abraham panicked, and instead of relying on God, packed his bags and headed for Egypt -a well-known enemy territory(v.10). Oftentimes, it's our panic-prompted mistakes that put us into situations which can lead to sin. And that's exactly what happened to Abraham. (Vv.11-13) With that, Abraham crossed the line between making a mistake and outright sinning. His mistake backed him into telling a lie.

2.Well-intentioned Mistakes. Like all genuine mistakes, well-intentioned ones stem from trying to do right, but at the wrong time or in the wrong way. Exodus 2 records just such a mistake in Moses's life. (vv.11-12) Moses' desire to defend his Hebrew brother was right, well-intentioned. But he relied on his own power to deliver the Hebrew from the Egyptian, rather than on the power of God, and this led to the sin of murder.

3. Negligent Mistakes. Mistakes of negligence result from laziness, lack of discipline, or inconsistency. In the Scripture they are often associated with fathers. And one father who made this mistake was David. First Kings 1:5-6. Here we see that David had never provided the discipline his son needed. As a result, Adonijah's childhood rebellion grew into a plan to take the throne from his father. Again David did the same mistake (2Sam. 13:21).

4. Unrestrained- Curiosity Mistakes. Curiosity is a very creative and important part of our lives. But if not restrained, it can often lead to trouble-sometimes in areas related to the demonic or sensational. An example is found in 1 Samuel 28. Wholesome curiosity is a helpful key that has unlocked many a door in our understanding of the world. Unrestrained curiosity is a different key, however- a key to Pandora's box of evils that is better left unopened.

5. Blind-Spot Mistakes. Are the ones we commit because of ignorance, habit, parental influence, or some character weakness. We're often not even aware of making them! Acts 15:36-41 records an example of this kind of mistake in the story of a conflict between two godly men, Paul and Barnabas. Paul had a blind-spot when it came to immature faith in other people. And so he made a mistake in judgement-one he came to recognize later in his minsitry (see 2Tim.4:11).
Of all our mistakes, this kind is usually the most difficult for us to discern. We want to rationalize the rightness of our blind-spot mistakes time and time again, rather than admit that we may have blown it.

Next week let us see how we can deal with all these kinds of mistakes.
Be encouraged.

**************************Letter # 22 (10.6.2001)*********************