BBD 02.18.13 Ever Make a Mistake?

#1 · February 18, 2013, 10:33 am

Quote from Forum Archives on February 18, 2013, 10:33 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

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The
Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170
countries. Celebrating 15 years online since January 31, 1998. Since
June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of
God's Word to more than 16,000 subscribers across the world.

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

The Burning Bush Devotional
There are 16,000 Subscribers to the Email Devotional

02.18.13

Ever Make a Mistake?

For there is not a just man on earth who does good
and does not sin. - Ecclesiastes 7:20.

The
Good News Translation puts Ecclesiastes 7:20 in this way: There is no
one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a
mistake.

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there
remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift
there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift. - Matthew 5:23-24.

In
Anna, Illinois, police officers raided a suspected methamphetamine lab
and secured the area. However, upon closer examination what they had
found was not a meth lab; it was canisters and tubes collecting maple
sap from some trees to make homemade maple syrup. The Benson family gave
the officers some of their syrup, and invited their neighbors who had
reported the suspected meth lab to come on over for some pancakes with
maple syrup.
(kfvs12.com 02.14.13; news-leader.com 02.15.13)

The
story reminds me of a glaringly similar mistake that I once made while I
was a probation and parole officer. During a home visit with a new
client I noticed a large plant with just part of it in view sticking up
over a backyard fence. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like a marijuana
plant. To make sure that the case was not thrown out for any reason I
decided to obtain a search warrant. One of the detectives at the police
department where I had my office drove by and took a photo of the plant
that was in view. Looking at the photo it surely appeared to be
marijuana. The Judge agreed, and signed the warrant. We raided my
client’s house and property taking possession of the plant. My client
told me that the plant only looked like marijuana and we found nothing
else of an illegal nature. Tests soon confirmed that the plant was
indeed not marijuana. I apologized to my client, and continued on having
greater wisdom than before. Just one more of my many mistakes!

The
spiritual fact is that we do all make mistakes in one form or another.
When we have harmed our brother like I did, our response should be
immediate as we seek to mend the relationship. Mending that relationship
is even more important than bringing a gift to the Lord and worshiping
Him. This is because when we have this wound in our hearts we are unable
to worship in the way that we should. Once we have experienced
reconciliation, we will be at peace with our brother, and with our God.

When
we make mistakes the example in Scripture is that we need to turn
around and do the right thing. When Jonah came to his senses in the
belly of the great fish, what did he do? What he did was to do what God
wanted him to do at the beginning. Jonah went to Nineveh. When the
prodigal son came to his senses in a far country what did he do? He went
back home to his father where he should never have left.

Some
mistakes are unfixable, and reconciliation is not possible. When that is
the situation, we can only do what David did in Psalm 51. After David
committed adultery with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed, there was
no way to undo what he had done, or make reconciliation at that point.

David prays:

Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to
the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me (Psalm
51:1-3 NKJV). Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not
take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
and uphold me by Your generous Spirit (Psalm 51:10-12 NKJV).

Copyright
© 2013. Ed Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since
January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush
Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the
early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was primarily
through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities throughout
the United States and Canada.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and hopefully will have more time now to write the
devotional and to pursue other ministry opportunities. If you would like
to hear his testimony in your church or at your event please fill free
to make contact. Ed is also interested in preaching revivals if there is
an opportunity to do so. You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or
WratherEd@gmail.com

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for
Nesha Greer, the 11-year-old girl with stage four osteosarcoma. She is
experiencing much pain. Please continue to pray for my wife, Jeanie.
Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I
am always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you enjoy
the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe
by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You
can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group
by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you
may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation
email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

TO UNSUBSCRIBE from this devotional send an email to:
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then MUST RESPOND to the confirmation email.

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net
http://www.theburningbush.org

The
Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170
countries. Celebrating 15 years online since January 31, 1998. Since
June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of
God's Word to more than 16,000 subscribers across the world.

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

The Burning Bush Devotional
There are 16,000 Subscribers to the Email Devotional

02.18.13

Ever Make a Mistake?

For there is not a just man on earth who does good
and does not sin. - Ecclesiastes 7:20.

The
Good News Translation puts Ecclesiastes 7:20 in this way: There is no
one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a
mistake.

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there
remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift
there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift. - Matthew 5:23-24.

In
Anna, Illinois, police officers raided a suspected methamphetamine lab
and secured the area. However, upon closer examination what they had
found was not a meth lab; it was canisters and tubes collecting maple
sap from some trees to make homemade maple syrup. The Benson family gave
the officers some of their syrup, and invited their neighbors who had
reported the suspected meth lab to come on over for some pancakes with
maple syrup.
(kfvs12.com 02.14.13; news-leader.com 02.15.13)

The
story reminds me of a glaringly similar mistake that I once made while I
was a probation and parole officer. During a home visit with a new
client I noticed a large plant with just part of it in view sticking up
over a backyard fence. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like a marijuana
plant. To make sure that the case was not thrown out for any reason I
decided to obtain a search warrant. One of the detectives at the police
department where I had my office drove by and took a photo of the plant
that was in view. Looking at the photo it surely appeared to be
marijuana. The Judge agreed, and signed the warrant. We raided my
client’s house and property taking possession of the plant. My client
told me that the plant only looked like marijuana and we found nothing
else of an illegal nature. Tests soon confirmed that the plant was
indeed not marijuana. I apologized to my client, and continued on having
greater wisdom than before. Just one more of my many mistakes!

The
spiritual fact is that we do all make mistakes in one form or another.
When we have harmed our brother like I did, our response should be
immediate as we seek to mend the relationship. Mending that relationship
is even more important than bringing a gift to the Lord and worshiping
Him. This is because when we have this wound in our hearts we are unable
to worship in the way that we should. Once we have experienced
reconciliation, we will be at peace with our brother, and with our God.

When
we make mistakes the example in Scripture is that we need to turn
around and do the right thing. When Jonah came to his senses in the
belly of the great fish, what did he do? What he did was to do what God
wanted him to do at the beginning. Jonah went to Nineveh. When the
prodigal son came to his senses in a far country what did he do? He went
back home to his father where he should never have left.

Some
mistakes are unfixable, and reconciliation is not possible. When that is
the situation, we can only do what David did in Psalm 51. After David
committed adultery with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed, there was
no way to undo what he had done, or make reconciliation at that point.

David prays:

Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to
the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me (Psalm
51:1-3 NKJV). Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not
take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
and uphold me by Your generous Spirit (Psalm 51:10-12 NKJV).

Copyright
© 2013. Ed Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since
January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush
Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the
early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was primarily
through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities throughout
the United States and Canada.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and hopefully will have more time now to write the
devotional and to pursue other ministry opportunities. If you would like
to hear his testimony in your church or at your event please fill free
to make contact. Ed is also interested in preaching revivals if there is
an opportunity to do so. You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or
WratherEd@gmail.com

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for
Nesha Greer, the 11-year-old girl with stage four osteosarcoma. She is
experiencing much pain. Please continue to pray for my wife, Jeanie.
Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I
am always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you enjoy
the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe
by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You
can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group
by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you
may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation
email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org