Learn from your mistakes

Galatians 2:11-16 (NLT)
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? 15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. 16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

The Apostle Paul recounts his confrontation of Peter, a pillar of the church, a strong leader, who gave into the peer pressure instead of relying on his faith in Jesus Christ. Peter made an error in allowing his thoughts to be guided by the criticism of others instead of being guided by Christ.



All of us are going to make mistakes in life. Most of us have a tendency to not want to admit our mistakes. We feel admitting our mistakes will make us less than perfect. The truth is we are less than perfect and the best thing we can do is admit our mistakes as soon as we are confronted. We need to express our regret, take responsibility, make restitution where restitution is due, and ask forgiveness. The last thing we want to do is cover up our problem, blame someone else or get angry when we are confronted. Adam and Eve attempted to handle their sin this way. They tried to hide from God, they tried to blame one another, and they resented being confronted. I wonder what might have happened if Adam and Eve had been honest, had admitted their sin to God, and taken responsibility for what they did. Instead they denied their sin and blamed God.

There is a saying that half of being smart is to know what half of you is dumb. Be willing to reach out for help and ask for guidance. Allow God to work in your life and show you how you can learn from your mistakes.