People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Who hasn’t tried to cover up a mistake?

A woman once reached for her favorite teapot to prepare some tea. But was she ever surprised, when the teapot fell to pieces in her hand! The person who had last handled it had obviously dropped it, but carefully arranged all the pieces so it looked whole.

Ever been so embarrassed at a mistake you’ve made, that you tried to cover it up?

When we’ve done wrong, the best path forward is to own up to our actions. This is the first step of the journey God offers everyone who wants to see the wrongs in their life right. In the Bible, this is called restoration. Jesus came to show us the path of restoration!

One author explained, “A Christian is not someone who never goes wrong but one who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin again, because the Christ–life is inside of him.”[1] Jesus endlessly invites His followers to come to Him, when we sin, receiving His forgiveness and strength to get up and do the work of healing what has been broken.

And there is work involved in making wrong things right! First, if you’re not proud of your actions, admit it to the people you hurt. Tell them, “I’m sorry for how I handled that.” Verbalize your mistakes and clarify what you want to do differently next time. Part of walking a different path going forward is calling out what we aim to change in our actions.

Scripture says, “People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

There’s mercy for those who want to make wrong things right!

[1] Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. HarperOne, 2001. P. 63.