Don't be afraid to share your mistake

A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether. 

(Roy H. Williams)

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean. Count yourself lucky—God holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from him. When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans. The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up. Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll come clean about my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone—my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared. (Psalm 32:1-5)

I don't want anyone to feel they are alone in their mistakes - heaven knows I have made more than my fair share and I am not finished living yet! We are supposed to learn from those mistakes, though. How many times have you and I made the same mistake on more than one occasion? The likelihood is that we did not learn from it the first time, or in the subsequent times! It would be nice if we made mistakes once, learned everything there was to learn from them, and then never made them again. That isn't reality - we repeat them, not so much because we didn't learn the first lesson, but because there is often more than one lesson to be learned from the mistake!

If I overspend this month, blowing the budget all to kingdom come, I can get back on track next month. What did I learn from my mistake? It is possible to recover from the over-spending with a little 'thrift' the next month? Don't give into those rogue emotions the next time you feel like a shopping spree? Keep better track of your money so it doesn't get away from you? Yes, all of these are possible lessons, but each one of those are individual lessons, aren't they? Guilt over our mistake doesn't always bring all the lessons to be learned to the surface, does it? Sometimes we repeat the mistake because we didn't see the 'other' lesson in the first mistake!

Have you ever observed someone else make the same mistake you were just about to make and then stopped what you were about to do? Why did you stop? You recognized the mistake before you made it because someone else shared how the mistake affected them. Yes, you were acting wisely by learning from their mistake. Why do I read the reviews posted on the online shopping site? I like to see that others were pleased with the quality of the product I am about to purchase. I want to avoid the mistake of purchasing something that will not work, breaks down quickly, or is just plain junk. 

We aren't going to learn from each other if we keep all our mistakes neatly tucked away in some secret compartment. As we confess our mistakes to God, we are also asking him to make our lives an example that others may learn from - so they don't launch headlong into the same mistakes! It is hard enough to admit our mistakes to God, let alone anyone else. There is indeed something to be learned in sharing. It is quite possible that someone who is learning from our mistake may actually help us see more than the one lesson we learned on our own - their perspective gives them a different vantage point to see other lessons we may have never even considered from our vantage point. Just sayin!

Living in the open

Conviction of heart really refers to not only the condition of the heart, but the 'bent' of the heart. Which way will we choose more than once when offered the choice? This is often the 'conviction' of our heart. We find we pursue one direction more than another - maybe not all the time, but this particular choice rises to the surface repeatedly. It may be a good direction to choose, or it may leave us feeling a little out of sorts because we know it wasn't the best choice at all. It is our actions, not so much our words, that reveal the real convictions of our heart. We always hear that we "cannot judge a book by its cover" and this is so very true. I have learned what is hidden in the heart is what is manifest in the actions - if not openly, then in secret. We have a huge opportunity to affect how the world sees Jesus based on what actions we reveal to the world. We have an equal opportunity to affect how we see ourselves by the choices we make in secret! Remember this - our faith is revealed in our works - both those openly performed and those secretly pursued.

"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable." (Matthew 5:10-12)

Conviction is defined in several ways. Personally, conviction is being fully convinced by the evidence so as to be able to stand firmly on the facts presented - unmovable, resolute, and wholly determined to pursue that truth. We become a dynamic evidence of God's grace when we model that grace to others. We are "evidence" that helps to convince others of the unmerited favor of a holy God. Conviction is also the state of standing "confident" - in times of public action and in those of secret choice. There is nothing that conveys living a really "solid" life than being able to speak and act with assurance - knowing what we believe and in whom our trust is fully placed. Equally, making consistently right choices is evidence of the grace of God working in our lives.

Conviction also carries the idea of being convinced. Conviction comes from a Latin word "convictus" - meaning to convince. When we are "convinced" of something, we move from a place of just being acquainted with the evidence at hand into a place of belief, agreement, and consent. The evidence results in a transition - we have a solid footing upon which to stand. Jesus challenged his disciples with the idea of persecution - telling them that it would actually cause them to be drawn closer to the Kingdom of God. What he is saying here is that persecution actually drives us closer to the heart of God - it urges us to turn to what we know we can trust. The outcome of that closeness to God's heart is that we have a testimony that presents the evidence of God's grace, justice, and love. This kind of "evidence" makes people who don't know God in the same way do just a little uncomfortable - it affects the status quo.

Jesus was not giving his disciples (and us) the marching order to "mess with people's minds" or even our own minds. He simply is telling us to live in such a way that we are totally convinced of what it is we believe and allow that "firmness of faith" to become that which brings the conviction to our heart and then to the hearts of others. We are simply presenting the evidence - the conviction is delivered by the evidence! We cannot judge a book by its cover, but we can learn much about the "author" by exploring the pages. Our depth of conviction is revealed in what the "author" of our lives has written on the pages of our heart. The best thing we can do is live our lives as open books! In open and in secret. With others and with ourselves. Just sayin!

Now, that's the 'real deal'

Today you will hear someone exclaim - that's the real deal - referring to something that is genuine, not fake, the real thing. Back in the day, Coca-Cola used "real-thing" to describe their soda. They were trying to establish that their 'cola' was the genuine cola - none comparing to the taste you'd find in opening a bottle of Coca-Cola. Let me just say, there is ONE "real deal" in this lifetime - it is Jesus. He is the "real thing" - the genuine article. He is not just another "thing" to be worshiped, but the only way into true and everlasting life - the 'real-deal' that connects us to God the Father. Try as some might, there is no 'counterfeit religion' that will do the same thing!

The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, he made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. (John 1:9-13)

It is Jesus who brings us into light. Let me acknowledge that no one who has truly experienced light wants to willingly settle for darkness - there is something liberating about the light. Darkness has very little appeal after we have experienced the wonder of all light exposes - color, hue, form, etc. It is important to note that we don't somehow get into the light ourselves - he brings us into the light. The challenge of being blind is that we must trust another to guide us in our darkness - mom takes my arm in order to navigate a place she is uncertain about. A blind person must learn to place their faith in another - coming into step with the one who is "in the light" in order to move through the darkness. So it is with us - we need to trust in the one capable of bringing us into light - coming into step with him.

The world did not even notice him while he was here among them. It amazes me that the creator of the world, the one who sustains everything in this world, was actually in the world, right there living and breathing alongside human beings, and our fellow humans failed to notice him. Each of us has had a point when what has previously been a lack of focus for us suddenly comes into view and we wonder how long that object or solution has been right there in front of us. Most of our "revelation" of Christ in our lives is really just a discovery of what is already there. We just didn't notice it before - either because we were too busy, self-focused, or distracted.

If anyone wanted him, he made them comfortable to be their true selves around him. At best, we walk around trying to be what we think we should be. We have an "image" of what we want to achieve, how we want to be perceived by others, or what we present as the goals of our lives - something we put forward for all to see. No one knows us better than the one who created us. The 'real deal' himself is well-acquainted with the 'real deal' in us.  When take our car to the dealership, telling them it is making a certain noise, they are likely to know very well what to consider as the cause of that noise. Why? They made it!  Others mechanics not associated with the dealership may be "trained" to look for certain things - but at best, they can "guess" at the cause - they aren't as acquainted with the 'real deal' as the ones who actually make and sell those automobiles. The one who made the automobile "knows" - because he is the one that formed every part, placed every part into its particular use, etc. Jesus is the one who knows how we were formed - and he knows the purpose for each one of us. 

We are "God-begotten" - sure, we were all born the typical way - a sperm made its way into an egg and conception occurred. Most of us were born from a mother's womb, but today this 'connection process' between egg and sperm can occur in a test-tube in a laboratory. The fact still remains, the sperm and egg must come together and then the action of physical life begins - the 'real-deal' begins to take form. In a spiritual sense, the same must occur. The Spirit of God enters into our spirit, and spiritual life begins. We sometimes refer to this as the "new birth" experience. The "replication" of Christ's character begins to take place - until we are completely formed into his image, reflective of his character.

We become the "real deal" because we are inhabited by the "real deal"! What we once overlooked has become our very existence - every moment, every breath, every step. The absolutely amazing thing about this process of the "new birth" experience is that we come into a place where we are free to be exactly who we were created to be - our unique qualities on display for God's glory and at the ready for his use - the 'real-deal' is revealed. Just being real here!