Do you accept responsibility for your mistakes?
Is it hard to accept responsibility for the mistakes you’ve made and the sins you’ve committed? I know it’s all too easy to blame someone else or circumstances, the way you were brought up, the way someone treated you or whatever it may be.
But if you really want to heal the burden of guilt you’re carrying around, you will accept full responsibility for your mistakes and your sins. And this will bring healing and freedom into your life.
Be honest with yourself
So, here are a few ideas that have been really helpful to me. The very first step is you have to be honest with yourself about how you have sinned, about the mistakes you have made. When someone has accused you of doing something wrong, or if you realize yourself that you’ve done something wrong, listen to what they say and don’t be defensive.
Same thing with yourself. Listen to your own heart, listen to your conscience. Just listen. Don’t get defensive. They may see it wrong. You may have had a wrong perspective on it yourself.
But there may be something in what someone else says or when you stop to listen to your conscience that you really need to hear and take in.
No blame, accept responsibility
And it’s so important not to blame circumstances or other people.
It is so easy to do. We’ve all done it. I’ve done it so many times: “Well, if somebody would just have said something different or if they hadn’t said that, or if they had treated me better.” Or if, if, if. We can’t make excuses and blame things on other people or circumstances.
That’s what Adam did in the Garden of Eden when he ate the forbidden fruit. Instead of admitting that he had made a mistake, Adam blamed God.He did not accept responsibility.
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”He said, God, you’re the one that gave me this woman. He basically was blaming God and Eve for his own mistakes. Genesis 3:12, 13 NIV
He never accepted personal responsibility for what he had done wrong. Eve, on the other hand, realized she had been deceived. She admitted her mistake, in effect, and I think she was accepting responsibility. The serpent beguiled me. The serpent deceived me. She realized she had been deceived, she had believed a lie, and she acted on it. That was the beginning of her accepting responsibility for her sin. And I think we need to be closer to Eve’s approach than to Adam’s.
Don’t blame yourself, accept responsibility instead
Now, this may sound a little counterintuitive, but don’t blame yourself. Don’t get heavy on the condemnation. Accept that you made a mistake or that you sinned. Admit it so you can go forward. Don’t condemn yourself for your sins and mistakes. Don’t make excuses. And above all, don’t ignore your mistakes.
Now, sometimes we’re not aware of mistakes we’ve made or we’ve done something wrong and we’re not aware of it.
So that’s something to be alert to. And that’s where, listening to other people, they might be pointing out something that you don’t know that you’re doing wrong, a mistake you’ve made, a sin you committed. So don’t take in everything everyone says because they may have their own perception of things that’s not accurate. But sometimes you might learn something from just listening to people.
Confess your sins to someone else
Now, once you are honest with yourself and accept responsibility and don’t blame anyone else or circumstances for your mistakes and your sins. I have found it very helpful to say to myself sometimes out loud in front of the mirror, if that’s necessary, look yourself in the eye and say, “I did this.” Fill in the blank, whatever it was, admit it to yourself and quit trying to hide from it or ignore it or put it under the carpet or blame someone else. That’s really important.
It’s part of the healing process.
Sometimes this is all very private, just between you and God. And you have to be guided in prayer by what to do here. Sometimes part of the healing process is to tell someone else. Sometimes privately, sometimes in front of a whole group of people. It just depends on what the circumstances are. And there’s no real formula. I love this verse from James,
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16 NIV
Ask for prayer
Ask your friends or folks at church, somebody you trust to pray for you whether you actually tell them the whole story. That may be up to you, but you can ask for someone to pray for you.
If there’s an opportunity, and you’ve hurt someone, apologize for your actions, even if it is hard, I know it takes humility. It’s hard to admit you were wrong, but there is a freedom and a joy when you can admit you made a mistake and say something to someone else. They may or may not accept it. That’s on them. All you need to do for your own peace of mind is to admit your mistakes and then apologize to someone if that’s a possibility.
If those people are no longer around or they’re not available, write them a letter as if you could send it to them and say what’s on your heart. Those are all part of this healing process.
Again, these are just a few ideas. There’s so many things I could say, but I just wanted to share a few things that are really, really important here. In future episodes of Freedom Friday, we’re going to talk more about how to go forward by seeing your true spiritual identity as a child of God. I’ve talked about that a little bit on some previous episodes of Freedom Friday, but we’re going to dig into that a lot more. Your true identity as God’s image and likeness.
Always accept responsibility for your sins
So just to kind of sum all this up, until you accept responsibility for your sins, you’ll never be able to let them go. And you’ll hold on to that burden of guilt. You may pretend like it’s not there, but it will be there.
The reason that you can accept responsibility for your sins and let them go is because God embraces you in his love, in his mercy and grace, and most importantly, He embraces you in his forgiveness. Put yourself in God’s hands. He will give you the strength and the humility and the love to face your mistakes.
Admit to yourself what you have done wrong, and if necessary, apologize to someone else.
I hope these ideas are helpful. If there’s something that I didn’t mention but that you have found helpful, I would love to hear from you. Let me know what that is.
And just a quick message for the new year 2026. I wish you a Happy New Year. I wish you freedom from any burden of guilt that you may be carrying around. God does not want you to live your life burdened with guilt. His forgiveness is always here, always ready, and always available. Happy New Year. May it be a year full of freedom from guilt and shame and discovering who you really are as a child of God.
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Photo Credit: Alexei Maridashvili
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Genesis 3:12, 13 NIV
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
James 5:16 NIV
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
