Recently, I caught someone in a lie. Scandalous, I know. It was not a big or harmful lie, but if Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space in Veggietales has taught me anything it is that fibs can grow. I am not here to explain the lie or expose someone, but instead, I am going to explain the very valuable lesson I learned from it. Here is the boiled-down lesson:
Your bad decisions do not prevent you from making a holy decision. You are always allowed to change.
Many times in my life, I have been aware that I have made a decision to cut corners or to say “Yes, I understand that” when I very much did not understand that thing. This is a result of not wanting to appear dumb or slow, and very often it is not malicious in intent. As imperfect beings, this is not surprising. However, what I realized is surprising, is that we usually convince ourselves it is better to persist in the lie and continue doing things as we always have than to put in the hard work to start doing the good things we should have been doing from the start.
Your bad decisions do not prevent you from making a holy decision. You are always allowed to change.
Sometimes, it is a slow burn. At first, your job did not compromise your morals but over time, it does. Maybe a relationship you are in did not involve sex before marriage, but over time it becomes a struggle. You are always allowed to start doing the good things. It is never too late to cultivate holy habits.
Life gets hectic and at times we naturally lower our standards to simply survive. This can be a very healthy practice, such as when we allow our grass to get a little bit taller than usual to make sure we are resting our bodies. Sometimes, though, this can look like not developing a friendship we know we should because we tell ourselves we are too busy or not reading books to our kids when they ask because we are too tired. And in just a few short weeks or months, we haven’t texted that friend or read a single book to our kids. It is in these moments that we need to be capable to say, “You know what, that isn’t me and I am going to start doing the good things I should have been doing.” You can call that friend or read that book.
Your bad decisions do not prevent you from making a holy decision. You are always allowed to change.
Here is an even more invasive example: Your job is demanding or requires you to work long hours and to cope you eat those doughnuts in the break room, or you make crass jokes, or have that emotional affair with that co-worker. Instead of taking a mental step back and evaluating these decisions, we convince ourselves in a split second that it would be worse to be viewed as a fraud or that one person who just isn’t fun anymore than it would be to do what you know is the right thing.
Your bad decisions do not prevent you from making a holy decision. You are always allowed to change.
A final example that comes to mind is the choices we make in the media we watch. You don’t want to be that one person that doesn’t watch that new TV show with questionable content so you compromise and watch it. Maybe pornography has been an issue for you and rather than asking for help, you believe the lie that it will take care of itself or that you can handle it. You are allowed to start doing the good thing you should have been at the start.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this is easier said than done. I am just some guy sitting at a coffee shop typing away on my computer with lots of bad habits of my own. I wish I could tell you every bad judgment call or decision to lower my standards has been met with a Bible verse and bam, I am good. But that is exactly the point I am trying to make: we all have fallen short of the glory of God, but His mercies are new every morning. This is not an algorithm to perfect yourself so God will like you more, instead, it is an opportunity we have to daily take steps toward God, rather than continue to take steps away from Him. Every single person on this Earth has habits that need to be broken and decisions that have shaped us that we wish we could take back.
Your bad decisions do not prevent you from making a holy decision. You are always allowed to change.
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