I was wrong!

“then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.”
-Proverbs 6:3

There are few things more difficult in life than admitting you are wrong. I hate it. I still hate it. I’ve been a Christian for several years now, and while I can see the Spirit working in my life toward more humility (which is a relative term, considering the vast amount of pride with which I started out), I can’t stand to admit I’m wrong. Whenever I get into a situation where I might my wrong, my mind immediately starts looking for excuses or ways to make my failings seem less drastic.

My wife has picked up on this. Whenever we argue, she always brings up that I never want it to be my fault. She does this too, which isn’t always a good combination. No matter whose fault it is, we tend to argue that it is the other person’s fault.

This verse comes right after Solomon brings up a couple of situations – the first is where you cosign on a loan you shouldn’t have or made a bad financial decision, and the second is when you say something you shouldn’t. In either case, there can be dire consequences.

His solution is very straightforward – go to the source and repent. Go right away. Don’t wait. Confess your wrong and ask for forgiveness.

In this age, there are a lot of people who won’t forgive on a bad financial decision. There are a lot of people who will not forgive an ill-chosen word. There are some who will.

The purpose of this verse is not to show us a sure-fire way to get out of a bad decision. It’s to promote a principle of honesty and integrity, even after you’ve made the bad decision.

In many cases, you will be forgiven. In others, you will not. Either way, the best course of action is to be honest and humble. It’s not the most comfortable one, but it’s the best one. It’s strange, but when I’m with my wife, the argument usually ends very quickly once someone admits fault. That pride will cause us to bicker for some time, but once that pride is broken and honesty is restored, we’ve come very near to the end of it.

In a greater sense, this strategy ALWAYS works with our Heavenly Father. We sin so often against Him. We break His Holy Law every day. We sin against Him in our pride, our selfishness, our hard-heartedness, and our lust. We don’t deserve to get out of that debt. And yet, when we confess and believe in the One sent to die on our behalf, thus taking our sin and debt upon Himself, we will be forgiven.

Go to Him. Be honest. Seek His forgiveness in true repentance. Then look to the Cross for your salvation, because Jesus paid the debt we owe to God.