Ed, my neighbor next door, had discouraging words for me yesterday. I had shared with him that I am moving to a new job at Walmart. “At least it will be a bit of a change for you! You’ll get to make new mistakes, rather than continuing to perfect your old ones,” Ed offered. Then he added, “I think you are making a mistake. You’re at the age when you’re too old to learn. Being an old, confused senior, you’ll mix up the dog and cat food and you’ll be selling bird seed for rabbit food.”

“Maybe even worse,” I offered. “I may be found sleeping in a pet bed or chewing dog bones. But, at least I’ll be able to recommend the best dog bones for Rex, your dog.” Ed left me with the warning that old mistakes hurt less than new ones.

Do mistakes come in two sizes? The small, hardly noticeable size, or the big size, that results in the wrong look on your manager’s face? I hate to mention it, but sometimes I have made a mistake that is a super-sized whopper. Oh, for those wonderful folks who make even bigger mistakes than we have made.

Some people are so fussy and fastidious that it seems they are always doing everything right. It is a mirage, for no one works or lives without some errors or mistakes. The Bible never covers up this truth. Adam, Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, King David, Peter, just to mention a few, all made some big league mistakes. Jesus Christ the Son of God alone was without mistake or error. He alone among us was sinless and able to see health instead of sickness, life instead of death.

A woman once suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She spent all she had on doctors which was a great mistake, for she grew worse instead of getting better. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Jesus with the thought, “If I just touch his cloak I’ll be healed.” When she touched his clothes she was healed, freed from her suffering. Her thoughts and actions were not in error, but in victory through Jesus Christ.

Jairus was one of the synagogue rulers and he came and pleaded that Jesus might come and heal his sick daughter. Before they could get to Jairus’ house, word reached them that his daughter was dead. Ignoring the news, Jesus told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

At the sick girl’s house, mourners were wailing in commotion over the child’s death. They laughed in scorn at Jesus when he told them that the child is not dead. So he put the mourners outside and went to the girl and took her by the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” Immediately the girl stood up and walked around.

It is never a mistake to believe Jesus. What a mistake it would have been if the father, upon hearing that his daughter was dead, had given up and told Jesus to forget it. When facing sickness or death, the challenge of a new job or an old job, we need to remember Jesus’ words; “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

 

 

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