Admitting when we are wrong

Iremember watching an old commercial so often that I could repeat the company’s slogan. It was catchy and drove home their message that they were America’s go-to company for painting questions. A friend once heard me sing the ingenious three-word theme and informed me I had it wrong. I quickly reviewed the words in my head before announcing I was right.

To prove my point, I sang, “Ask Sherman-Williams.” Unfortunately, I got the company’s name wrong; it is not Sherman-Williams, but Sherwin-Williams. Have you ever been certain you were right, only to discover you were not?

In his March 19, 2023, “Our Daily Bread” devotional, James Banks wrote about a time he got things wrong as a teen. He believed God might want him to travel abroad as a foreign exchange student. He prayed, “Lord, please send me anywhere but there.” While he did not identify where, he admitted to neither speaking the nation’s language nor appreciating its customs.

Banks is now glad God did not answer his prayer, for while there, he made new friends; some he still communicates with and treasures. When he got married, his best man, Stefan, came from there, and when Stefan got married, Banks returned the favor.

Sometimes we are confident we are right, only to discover we are wrong. Banks’ devotion contained a relevant story from the Bible. Saul of Tarsus got permission to persecute the early church in Damascus. On his way there, God confronted Saul, the number one persecutor of the early church, and changed his heart.

Later, God spoke to Ananias, a godly believer from Damascus, telling him where to find the now-humbled Saul and that he was to help him. Ananias’s hesitant response was understandable. He said, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” (Acts 9:13-14, NLT)

Despite his reservations, Ananias obeyed God and three verses later called Saul his brother. What is especially interesting in this story is that not only was the violent Saul wrong, but so was the godly man sent to encourage him. Because Saul and Ananias had a change of heart, both were blessed with a new brother in the faith.

All of us are sometimes wrong, but when we acknowledge our failure and trust God, we often experience good things we would have missed had we refused to change. As much as many of us may dislike change, it is often the first step to a future we would have missed if we had not been willing to admit we were wrong.