Scriptures on When You Know You Have Messed Up
Ron is the founding pastor of a church in Harrisburg, PA, and a graduate of Denver Seminary in Colorado.
A footling while ago I really messed up. At that place was something I was supposed to do that I didn't get done, and I felt really bad about my neglect. In fact, my error started weighing on me. I felt ashamed, because I disappointed the expectations of other people, and guilty considering I disappointed not only God, but also my expectations of myself.
That episode brought me face to face with an issue every Christian must deal with sooner or after: how do y'all handle information technology when you lot've desperately messed upward? You sinned in some way, or y'all neglected a responsibility, or you got angry and said some things you shouldn't take said. Whatever it was, you lot messed up. And now you really feel bad most it.
Feeling Bad About Messing Upwardly? Good!
Hither's the commencement affair you lot need to know: Yous are supposed to feel bad virtually your mess-up! James 4:nine says that sinners should "Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." Psalm 38:18b says, "I volition be in ache over my sin." And then, don't feel bad about feeling bad! In fact, if you can sin and not feel bad most it, you are in a dangerous spiritual status.
The Holy Spirit uses those feelings of guilt and shame to convict us of our sin and motivate us to practise something nigh it.
That's why when you experience bad about something y'all've done, you cannot afford to ignore that feeling. The guilt or shame you feel is like the fuel approximate in your automobile. It's telling you something you lot need to know and that would be unsafe for yous to ignore. With gas well north of $2 a gallon, I really don't desire to hear my car telling me that the tank needs to be filled again. But it'southward something I demand to know then I can properly respond to the situation.
That's what feelings of guilt practice for united states when nosotros've messed up. They allow the states know we need to do something to correct our transgression.
And so, what do you do? But keep on feeling bad? Or do y'all merely blow it off and continue well-nigh your concern as if information technology never happened?
Of class, neither of those alternatives is the right 1. We need to get God's prescription for how you get up when you mess up. Let's start with what I recall is a very encouraging give-and-take about our mess-ups:
You Can Be Blessed in Spite of Your Mess!
Psalm 32:1-2 (NKVJ) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blest is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit at that place is no deceit.
This passage talks most what happens when nosotros mess up, only the first thing information technology says is "blessed is the man" who has messed up but been forgiven. To me that'due south a very encouraging bulletin: you tin be blest in spite of your mess!
When we handle our mess-ups the way God commands, we can actually cease upward existence blest rather than condemned. And so, how can we deal with our mess-ups in a way that brings blessing?
Martin BOULANGER via freeimages.com
ane. Acknowledge Your Transgression
Psalm 32:five I best-selling my sin to You lot, And my iniquity I accept not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
When I mess upwardly, the first footstep to getting dorsum up is to admit my mess-up, first to myself, then to the Lord.
I must acknowledge that what I did was wrong. I tin't afford to excuse it or minimize it or overlook it, or say it wasn't equally bad as what somebody else did. Those are all ways of fugitive having to deal with the fact that I messed up and demand to change.
If you ever catch yourself saying something like, "I know it was wrong, Just…" lookout man out! That comforting alibi will keep you trapped in your sin. If information technology was wrong, information technology was incorrect, and in that location'southward no "but" to it.
I demand to actively confess my sin to God in prayer. Then, if in that location is some other person I have wronged or hurt or offended, I need to go to that person and confess my fault and enquire for their forgiveness.
two. Apologize
2 Corinthians seven:10a For godly sorrow produces repentance…
Once I have acknowledged and confessed my mess-upwardly, the adjacent pace is repentance. To repent but means to turn from the wrong way to the correct manner. Real sorrow about my sin ever involves repentance.
Suppose I write to the director of a store in the mall and say, "I learned in church that I'm supposed to acknowledge my sins. So, I want to confess to you that last week I shoplifted from your store. And past the way, in order to relieve on postage stamp, permit me go alee and confess the shoplifting I plan to do this week as well."
Obviously, that doesn't work! Sincere confession always includes the want and intention to turn away from my sinful actions, and non continue engaging in them. It'south not enough to merely admit my sin. I must as well determine, with God'due south aid, to quit doing it.
3. Fix Things Right
Exodus 22:six If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, and so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the burn shall surely make restitution.
When my mess-up does damage to someone else, my repentance is non complete until I have done all I can to brand restitution.
For instance, if I had shoplifted appurtenances from a store, only confessing and repenting are not enough. I demand to restore to that store owner the value of what I stole.
In the same way, if I said something nasty nearly someone, so that their reputation was afflicted, I need to do all I tin to undo that damage. That might mean going not only to that person, but likewise to others who heard my slanderous comments, and publicly apologizing for what I said.
Whatever information technology takes, if I'thou going to accept a clean slate after repenting for my mess-up, I must do all I tin can to make advisable restitution for the damage I've acquired.
4. Forget It
Philippians 3:13a Brethren, I do non count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind…
When God forgives, He forgives completely! one John 1:9 says that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That means once we sincerely confess our mess-up to the Lord, it's gone! It's no longer on the books. God has forgotten it, and then should we.
Don't let the weight of old sins concur you in chains. When the guilt and shame of sins you have confessed and repented of come up back to your heed, remember that on the ground of 1 John 1:nine, you are forgiven and y'all are clean.
Here'southward a truth that has frequently helped me when I've felt guilty about past sins: The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins to bring us to repentance. The devil condemns us for our sins to keep us in chains.
Whenever you experience feelings of guilt or shame about sins y'all have already confessed and repented of, that is condemnation and it is from the devil, not from God. The only reason to remember past sins is to acquire how to avoid them in the future.
v. Movement On
Philippians 3:13b-14 … ane thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forwards to those things which are ahead, 14 I printing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Once you take confessed your mess-up, received God'due south forgiveness, and done your all-time to make appropriate restitution, put it behind yous and move on. Fix your gaze resolutely on the positive things ahead of y'all, and press toward them.
And don't let other people hold yous in condemnation. No matter what people say, refuse to dwell on past mistakes, attain forward toward your future, and don't wait back!
Since God has forgiven and forgotten your mess-up, there'due south zip back in that location anyhow.
Questions & Answers
Question: Tin God forgive me if I accept said bad things most Him, complained about His ways and blamed Him for beingness unjust?
Answer: The short answer to your question is, yes! No matter what we've washed, non thing how bad it might be, and even if we rebelled confronting God, the blood of Jesus can launder information technology all away.
ane John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
That's such a keen promise considering it covers every sin we've committed, fifty-fifty when we were figuratively slapping God in the face. So, take hold of this promise, and believe it. Confess your sin to God, repent of what you did, and rest in His assurance that information technology is now covered and cleansed by the claret of Jesus.
Question: My husband is under stress both at his job and with our family. Coming habitation from church, he can accident his stack and use bad words even when I am agreeable. What else tin I do?
Answer: What a painful state of affairs. I'thou sure both you and your husband are pain. My recommendation is that y'all get your pastor involved as presently every bit possible. Or perhaps your church has a counseling ministry. Since it appears that you lot are both in the church, hopefully your married man volition be willing to receive biblical guidance about how to improve your marriage. May the Lord requite you His wisdom and His peace as y'all seek His way in this well-nigh difficult situation.
© 2013 Ronald Eastward Franklin
Source: https://letterpile.com/inspirational/How-To-Get-Back-Up-When-Youve-Messed-Up
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