Fix Up Your Mistakes (Part I)

By Odon Bulamba (10 January 2003)

The great salvation (Hebrews 2:3) has at least 10 branches, and these branches are for Christians, not pagans. This teaching is for Christians who have already got a good foundation in the faith. Sometimes as Christians we make mistakes, but God wants these mistakes corrected so that He can manifest Himself in you.

When a king was chosen in the Bible, the very first thing God would do was send a prophet. This chosen person came to the king and poured oil on his head, and after 2 hours he would wash it off without anybody knowing. When this person finally became a king only then did people ask, “When was this person chosen by God”?

If we don’t accept God’s message at the given time, God might stop the anointing and give it to someone else. It is up to us as Christians to reach God’s goal as Jacob did when he tried hard to take the blessing from Esau. If you are an intercessor do not sit in your armchair and wait for God to tell you to pray because God will not come down from heaven to teach you. First of all you must start praying yourself and as you pray, God will help you more and more. Jesus said that the one who wants to follow Me must carry his own cross. Jesus won’t force you to follow Him but you will follow Him according to your decision.

Last time we looked at the 3 categories of Christians in the book of Romans. These Christians were good, they did what all Christians should do but there were a few personal problems among them. The first type of Christian was the idolatry Christian; the second type of Christian knew the Word of God very well and was concerned about giving God’s Word to others, but they didn’t think of themselves when they read the Bible. The third type of Christian was the Jewish Christian; although they knew a lot about God they thought they were better than everybody else. They waited years for Jesus to come but when Jesus turned up they didn’t recognise who He was, and they still keep on telling themselves that they are the children of God.

Most of us have at least one thing mentioned in these 3 categories. It is up to yourself to convert your heart and change your behaviour. Before preaching to others preach to yourself first. If you are guilty or the Word you are reading convicts you, repent and ask for forgiveness, and then you will be able to share with others. If you prepare the Word for others and not yourself, you are a loser because you forget yourself.

The life we have is short and it will end soon. Those who are not serious with their life or God, God will not be serious with them. If you are called by God and tell Him to wait because you are busy, God will also tell you later that He is busy and you will regret it later.

With these 3 categories of Christians written in Romans 1, 2 and the beginning of chapter 3, we can find many things useful for ourselves. Today I asked God what are we going to do tonight, and God helped me to understand what we can learn from the computer.

All computers come in different sizes and colours but they have the same fundamental operations, monitors, keyboards, hard drive etc. Christians are made up of different races but have the same spirit, and God leads us as He pleases.

One day a rich man was arrested and thrown into jail, and while in jail they gave him a computer. He knew a lot about computers but didn’t know how to work it. Not all prisoners had this privilege. Imagine having a computer in jail, you’ll be able to write letters, send e-mails, know about the world, listen to music through the Internet, and many more things. But because he lacked knowledge on how to use the computer he still wasn’t happy.

God helped me to understand that we are like this man. God has made us a prisoner of the Gospel where we are protected and where the devil cannot reach us. Your computer is the Word of God, everything you need is in it. In the Bible you’ll find praise, if you want to know about kings, look in the Bible, if you want to know what is happening in your life read the Bible.

Sometimes we put God’s word aside and depend on others to teach us. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and He teaches through people, even if you are alone and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, He will. We must be serious with the Word of God. Do not be like the Jewish Christians; they thought they knew everything except Jesus Christ Himself.

If you make a mistake on your computer what does it do? It shows you your mistake so you can fix it up, and until you fix it up it won’t go away. It’s the same with God when we sin, He says repent so you can carry on. Unfortunately when there is a mistake we try to find another way to bypass the error, instead of correcting it we try to avoid it. God is a God of forgiveness and love, but when you love someone and other one doesn’t love you, how will you feel? You’ll feel bitter, and it is the same thing with the computer, if you make a mistake “Windows will shut down”. The computer will stop all your work because you refuse to be corrected, and it is the same thing with God.

Every time God asks us to change our behaviour we don’t listen. Do we want God to tell us that it is time to shut down? The computer doesn’t care if you are a Doctor, Policeman or whatever; if you make a mistake it means a mistake! We read about these people with knowledge in the book of Romans, but God is a God of justice and God will apply this justice to you and others. Sometimes computers freeze and when they freeze you feel like throwing it away. When God talks to us again and again we become angry and say to God, “it is too much! Why does God hassle me and not others?”

Christians today don’t see that God speaks through man, instead, when Oscar preaches they think he is trying to be indirect to Steve. Instead of Steve thinking about what God is offering to him through Oscar, he makes things freeze so that everything will shut down. So after this happens Steve will never listen to Oscar’s messages again. As Christians we only have one option, and that is to serve God for the rest of our days.