The Weekly Encourager – August 21, 2013 – Don't Give Up When You Mess Up

This Encourager is per my husband's request. Knowing that I've been trying to make good choices for bodily health, this morning he complimented me, saying, “Whatever you're doing, it's working.” Now isn't that a nice thing to hear?! I replied that I'm trying to get a half hour to an hour of exercise every day, and I told him that the trick is not to GIVE UP when I MESS UP. He said, write that down!

Notice I didn't say “if” I mess up, but “when.” I'm a saved sinner, but still a sinner. So if I had two pieces of rich chocolate cake yesterday at a birthday party (which I did), I don't say, “Well, I blew my diet for the week, so I might as well have two pieces today.” Just because I made a bad choice yesterday, I don't have to make a bad choice today. As Anne of Green Gables said, today is a new day with no mistakes in it.

I press on toward the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus. Pressing on means choosing not to believe the lies of Satan. Satan is the accuser who wants me to think only in black and white. Either I'm all good or all bad. The Scripture agrees with him that I am not all good, because no one can be perfect except Christ. But that doesn't imply that I'm going nowhere and shouldn't even try to do good. See how subtle Satan is? He wants to accuse me and tempt me at the same time. "You're really bad, so just go ahead and go all the way. You loser, do something right, even if it's being wrong." No! Begone!

Note that my goal is to take good care of my body, in order to honor the Lord who made me for His holy purposes. I'm not just trying to lose weight, but if that's a by-product of loving God with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, great! More power to Him!

Here's what I need to do when I mess up, whether it's in the area of care for the body, gracious speech, wise use of time, submission to authority, kind attitudes toward others, or whatever the issue. It's simple: confess, don't regress. Then press on. MAKE A BETTER CHOICE TODAY. Don't try to change all at once – you'll just get discouraged when you fail. On the other hand, don't sit around on your rump when the Lord has shown you something that needs to change! It may be a very small choice, but make a better choice today than you did yesterday. Success breeds success. God honors perseverance. Better choices will become habits if we DON'T GIVE UP.

God is faithful,

PS A note to husbands/wives/parents/children/friends/teachers: a little word of encouragement can help someone make a better choice. Never underestimate the power of a real compliment. Thank you, Dave!