Part One: Causes of Mistakes
Adapted from Charles Swindoll, Tale of the Oxcart, page 386.
We all make mistakes. It’s a sign of our humanity.
Scripture records man’s mistakes to teach us.
I think they fall into 5 categories:
1. Panic-prompted mistakes usually involve fear, hurry or worry.
2. Good-intention mistakes come from wrong timing, poor (or wrong) methods, misinformation, and incomplete communication.
3. Passive-negligence mistakes result from laziness, lack of discipline or inconsistency .
4. Unrestrained-curiosity mistakes relate to the demonic or sensational.
5. Blind-spots mistakes usually come from ignorance, habit, or influences.
—Adapted from Charles Swindoll Tale of the Oxcart (page 386)
Part Two: How to Process Mistakes, DMc
So when we make mistakes our questions are…
What, if any, of this is sin?
Such as pride, self-centeredness, procrastination, laziness, etc.?
Is there anything I need to repent of?
Have I sinned against, offended, or hurt anyone else?
Do I need to make amends?
What do I need to learn from this?
Am I thinking short-term instead of what is best in the long-run?
Am I blaming others or taking responsibility for my own actions?
Am I recognizing my weaknesses or unhealthy tendencies?
What different choices do I need to make so that this problem doesn’t repeat itself?
Do I need to …
- communicate better?
- plan better?
- do more research?
- choose different relationships, associations?
- ask better questions, etc.?
- get help, advice from friend, expert or professional?
What lifestyle changes do I need to make?
What new habits, patterns, methods, procedures do I have to adopt?
How did this affect others?
Learn to apologize correctly.
The key to a sincere apology is empathy for how this affected them An effective apologize focuses on how my mistake affected the other person. If I explain why I goofed. If I give excuses or say I usually don’t do this … I am not apologizing.
Apologizing needs to be about how my mistake caused another person to be inconvenienced, hurt, saddened, frightened, etc. not explaining why it happened or promising it will never happen again.
For a printable PDF (for this or other articles),
email me at
doug.newjersey@yahoo.com.
Ask for Mistakes handout.