How do people make the same mistakes repeatedly? I think there are many possible answers to this question, but I’ll only discuss one in this article for the sake of brevity.
First, why do I even ask this question? I ask it, because here I sit in my office, writing this article, with a terrible sunburn on my face, neck, forearms and calves.
Is this my first sunburn? I wish I could say it was. I’ve had so many sunburns in my life that I can’t begin to guess how many I’ve had.
So, what do we call a person who makes the same mistake over and over again? A fool? A slow learner?
In some cases, we might say either of those, but in the case of sunburns, we usually give people a pass. Why? Because sunburns are very common and, in many cases, they are even unique.
For instance, let’s take my current sunburn. How did it happen? It was a cool day, the wind was blowing hard and it was also overcast. I got it at my kids’ track and field day competition. I got it under unusual conditions, for me.
I am a bit fanatical about protecting myself from the sun. I’m fanatical because in my life I’ve had many awful sunburn experiences. This has caused me to be guarded and cautious. When I mow the grass I wear pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a large brimmed hat. I do the same when I go on mission trips in the summer. I do the same when I go on float trips or go to the lake.
I do this because I’ve experienced a lot of sunburns in those specific situations.
But how many track and field days have I ever gone to with my children? Just a couple. And in my previous experiences, the venues had a lot of shade. This year, there was no shade. It was a new venue.
In the past, we’ve also always left early. We competed in our events, but then skipped the awards ceremony. We had friends that collected our awards and brought them to us. This year, we stayed for the awards ceremony.
What were my mistakes? First, I didn’t think. If I would have put some thought into the situation, I would have been alright. I got up and checked the weather. I saw that it was going to be cool, windy and overcast all day. I lowered my guard. If the forecast would have said it was going to be sunny, I would have prepared. If the forecast would have said it was going to be hot, I would have prepared. That’s basically as far as I thought.
In the back of my mind I said, “In cool weather, you don’t get burned. On cloudy days, you don’t get burned. Wear what you want.”
But! I know better. I’ve been burned before on cool, cloudy, windy days. But it’s been a very long time since I’ve been burned under those circumstances.
Now, what am I talking about? I’m not talking about sunburns. I’m talking about sin. How do we make the same mistakes repeatedly when it comes to sin? We do so in a very similar way. All it often takes is changing the circumstances a little and we let our guard down. And what happens when we let our guard down? We get burned. We make mistakes.
We often do well in circumstances that we’re used to. In circumstances where we know we have to be prepared. But that’s the tricky thing about life. The circumstances are always shifting and changing.
So how do we avoid the burn? Here’s just one of many possible helpful suggestions. Think. Don’t think as you go, that makes you strictly reactionary, and that is very rarely a good thing to be. Think as far ahead as possible so that you can be prepared.
We can’t know everything that’s coming our way, but we can avoid common mistakes. I had enough knowledge to know that I could still get burned on a cool, overcast, windy day, I just didn’t think.
When you look forward in the morning to the oncoming day, take time to consider what difficulties the day could possibly have in store and think proactively about how to overcome those. It could mean the difference between a very pleasant day, in which the Lord is glorified by your words and actions. Or it could be a day where you receive a burn- and adding insult to injury, you rob the Lord of His due glory by your words, thoughts or actions.
Think. But don’t just think, think on God’s good Word. Its wisdom provides the ultimate burn protection.
Much Love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
