Many people, even professed Christians, have made mistakes, and later repented of them, and wished that they had never made them. Mistakes can cause loss of property, money, also happiness and peace. Mistakes can cause loss of health, and even death.

Adam and Eve made a mistake by eating from the forbidden tree. Cain made a mistake by killing his brother, Abel. Jacob made a mistake by lying to his father. Moses made a mistake by hitting the rock to get water for the people. David made a mistake by laying with Bathsheba, and killing her husband, Uriah. Judas made a mistake betraying Jesus to His enemies. Ananias and Sapphira expected to gain money to themselves by lying. All of these people who committed a mistake thought that they would benefit from them. Adam and Eve thought that they will become like God, and receive knowledge of the good and evil. Jacob expected that the blessing of the first born will come to him. David thought of the pleasure of sin. Judas expected 30 pieces of silver. They all expected something good would come to them by their mistakes. They did not consult God beforehand; they all went in their own way.

“All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way.” Isaiah 53:6

Our own way may seem good to us, but in the end we realize that it was a great mistake. It is always the opposite to God’s way. God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8–9

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Isaiah 5:20–21

How many times did Adam and Eve say, we wish we had never eaten the forbidden fruit, when they saw the evil in the world. Jacob spent 20 years in exile, and he was deceived by his children and by Laban. Judas did not enjoy the money he gained. David lost four of his children prematurely. Moses was not allowed to lead the people all the way to the Promised Land. What they expected to be a gain ended up to be a great loss.

Let us compare the way of God to the way of man. On the way of God we need to endure hardness and strive for masteries.

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.” 2 Timothy 2:3–5

Man’s way is to seek an easy life, comforts, and much fun and pleasure. This is what appeals to many people more than God’s way, but what is the end result?

“Many are ruined by their desire for a life of ease and pleasure. Self-denial is disagreeable to them. They are constantly seeking to escape trials that are inseparable from a course of fidelity to God. They set their hearts upon having the good things of this life. This is human success, but is it not won at the expense of future, eternal interests? The great business of life is to show ourselves to be true servants of God, loving righteousness and hating iniquity. . . . The greatest loss which any one of you in Battle Creek can suffer is the loss of earnestness and persevering zeal to do right, the loss of strength to resist temptation, the loss of faith in the principles of truth and duty.

“Let no man flatter himself that he is a successful man unless he preserves the integrity of his conscience, giving himself wholly to the truth and to God.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 70

“It pains me to say, my brethren, that your sinful neglect to walk in the light has enshrouded you in darkness. . . . He sees His love despised. The soul’s temple courts have been converted into places of unholy traffic. Selfishness, mammon, malice, envy, pride, passion, are all cherished in the human heart. His warnings are rejected and ridiculed. His ambassadors are treated with indifference, their words seem as idle tales.” –Ibid., p. 71–72

To seek an easy, comfortable life means to seek death and separation from God. Man’s way to rejoice is to have feasts, much food and drinks with friends, joking, laughing, making much profit, and taking advantage of others. God’s way to rejoice is completely different.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with much exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12–13

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matthew 5:11–12

How different is the rejoicing in the way of man than in the way of God. Man’s way is to love your friends and hate your enemies. Many professing Christians change it a little. They say, “Love your friends and avoid your enemies, ignore them,” yet it means the same as hating them.

“The first thing recorded in Scripture history after the fall was the persecution of Abel. And the last thing in Scripture prophecy is the persecution against those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast. We should be the last people on the earth to indulge in the slightest degree the spirit of persecution against those who are bearing the message of God to the world. This is the most terrible feature of unchristlikeness that has manifested itself among us since the Minneapolis meeting. Sometime it will be seen in its true bearing, with all the burden of woe that has resulted from it.” –Miscellaneous Collections 1888, p. 1013

It was not a persecution with weapons, it was a persecution in words, and in ignoring them, and voting against them. It was speaking evil of them, and influencing others to dislike them. This is the same spirit of persecution that Cain had against Abel when he killed him, or the spirit of the Catholics when they killed over 50 million true Christians. To love your enemies is one of the most difficult lessons that we must learn before we can be children of God.

Jesus said, “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Mark 13:12–13

That the brother will betray the brother has been witnessed since the time of Cain and Abel. The disciples of Jesus wanted to call fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans. In the year 1914 and after, Seventh-day Adventists betrayed one another. Letters were sent to the police to give the names and addresses of Reform Adventists so that they would be persecuted and placed in prisons.

Are we perfectly free from this spirit of hatred that is so strange to the spirit of love that Jesus had? Can it be that there is a root of bitterness against someone, even a little dislike against someone? This has spoiled our world, that the spirit of unity has been lost. This spirit of hatred has brought so much misery to the human family. It is a satanic spirit that has taken over our world, even many Christians and churches. Love toward one’s neighbour is gone, also love towards erring brethren.

A brother who has fallen into sin needs our greatest love and sympathy, but this is often lacking. We stop praying for him, and avoid him, and do not invite him to our home any more. The greatest Satanic character is that we tell his sin to others, that they stop liking him also. Jesus said, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” Matthew 5:46–47

Jesus was called, “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Luke 7:34

When brotherly love dies we become blinded and lose our faith, and the separation in the church is near. Selfishness and self-pride are poisons that kill us spiritually. Paul overcame his selfishness and he writes, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints.” Ephesians 3:8

He did the same as Jesus did; he left the ninety-nine sheep and went to seek the one lost sheep. It is a mistake to ignore and leave alone the lost sheep—that is, to leave alone the sinner and go after the righteous ones. “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” Isaiah 65:5

Self-righteousness is a great mistake. Sister White says, “It is almost incurable.” When we humble ourselves the spirit of Satan will leave us alone and the spirit of Christ will fill our hearts. Then we can love our brothers and sisters, and all mankind, even sinners.

May the Lord help us to avoid all mistakes and live a life of true holiness. Amen.

Timo Martin