Why Do We Make Mistakes?
We often say it is due to carelessness and write it off as if it is not our fault. But is that true? It is true in the sense that he did not intentionally drive a car and take aim at that little girl and knock her down. In that sense, it is not his fault that she died. But if he had watched less TV that night before and slept earlier so that he could get up early and need not rush to work and break the speed limit, then he might perhaps have avoided that accident. He could also have been less selfish by choosing to be late and get punished rather than rush to be early but risk killing somebody. In that sense, he is responsible for the death of that little girl. My point is this: this careless mistake could have been avoided if you had chosen to be more responsible. In fact, it could have been avoided by just taking some simple preventive measures. For instance, do not place a cup at the edge of a table if you do not want to risk knocking it down onto the floor and breaking it. But having said that, I also recognize that some things are just simply too difficult to preempt. I want to suggest a better way of avoiding “careless” mistakes.
Storing Good Treasures in the Heart
Jesus says: “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). If you spend time drinking in the Word of God, God’s word will provide you practical wisdom, guiding principles, strength to obey and because it is sharper than any double edged sword (Heb 4:12), it can leave a deep impression in your heart so that you will never forget it but it will become a part of your life. As a consequence, even your reflex reaction will be guided by God’s word. For instance, just recently, a top minister said something very unpleasant by mistake over the microphone and had to apologise for it. It happened at just before his re-election. For us, we can avoid such costly mistakes if we have a store of good things in our hearts so that even under the most pressurized circumstances, we will still say the right things because we overflow with good, kind, loving and gracious words.
Surely the lady who hurt her maid knew of the serious consequences of maid abuse. But she made the mistake not because she was unaware of the consequences but for some reasons, she could not control her anger and maintain a level head. The real cause was because there was an overflow of “bad treasure” in the heart. Conversely, if you have excess stock of grace, patience and wisdom in your heart, you will naturally do that which is right, peaceable, and that which will be a good testimony for our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, walk close with the Lord, read the bible and pray faithfully. Then you will walk in safety at all times.