Then, the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:7

Note: This article is in a series called Two Roads. Previous articles are always available at http://www.webbweekly.com.

Measure twice and cut once. Alistair Macleod

When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, instead of confession, he first chose an attempt to fix the mistake. That made sense to him.

That makes sense to us, too. There are mistakes we can fix. If you don’t cut a board short enough, you can fix the mistake by measuring and cutting again. There are, however, mistakes we can’t fix. Once a board is too short, cutting it again won’t fix it. For Adam, when he ate the forbidden fruit, he cut the board too short, and when he tried to fix his mistake, the board got shorter.

Will Rogers gave us another adage that fits here, If you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

If you make a mistake that can’t be fixed, the situation will not improve until you stop cutting and digging. Trying to fix the unfixable will only make matters worse.

Adam’s fix for his shameful nakedness was covering himself with fig leaves. It made him feel better knowing he wasn’t naked anymore. Adam thought being naked was the problem, so he fixed it, but being naked wasn’t his problem. The fact that he knew he was naked was the problem. Eating the forbidden fruit opened a door of knowledge he could never shut again. There was nothing he could do to unknow what he now knew. He broke God’s command. Shame was a symptom of the real problem – disobedience. His innocence was gone, and anything he did to fix the mistake just made the board shorter and the whole deeper.

King David’s effort to fix his moral failure was to have Uriah come home and sleep with Bathsheba. Even if his plan had succeeded, it wouldn’t have fixed anything. It would have resulted in a life of deceit, a child who didn’t look anything like his father, a mother who had to maintain lies for the rest of her life, and a king living in constant fear of exposure. Worst of all, David’s fix would have kept him from confessing his act of disobedience, resulting in a downward spiral on the road to death and eternal separation from God.

Here’s the hard truth: a disobedient choice cannot be fixed; it can only be redeemed. Redemption is a work of grace. We can’t redeem ourselves. We can’t fix our problems. Our hope isn’t found in us and our self-destructive solutions; it is found only in the redeeming grace of God through Jesus Christ.

I have watched too many fallen men cause further damage to their wives and children while trying to fix a mistake. Some of them are adulterers who think being a super-husband will somehow fix the past. Adultery is a mistake that can never be fixed; it can only be redeemed. Others were gamblers who put their family’s financial security in jeopardy. Their attempt to fix the problem was to place another bet and cut the board shorter. A few of them were abusive fathers who tried to fix the bruises and emotional scars by buying extravagant gifts for the child they injured. Fixing never works – the whole just gets deeper.

Hear this: we cannot fix moral failure and can never reverse the damage done. A broken bone is broken forever. Have you ever broken a bone? If you have, then you know that bone is different from the rest, and the memories of the injury are permanent, no matter how well it has healed.

When I was in fourth grade, I ran face-first into a handrail while playing tag with friends and shattered my two front teeth. The dentist repaired them with caps, but the damage was done. I had to get those caps replaced when I was a senior in high school and again about ten years ago. Those teeth will never be the same as the rest, and time will never change that fact.

A moral failure permanently breaks what was once unbroken. It cannot be fixed, but Jesus has hope for us – a moral failure can be forgiven, healed, and redeemed!

The only hope for a fallen man — and it is a great hope — is the journey of redemption. There is nothing else. The sooner a fallen man comes to that realization, the better off his victims will be and the better off he will be. Healing begins for everyone when a fallen man chooses the steps that lead to redemption. Those steps include humble confession, repentance, and restitution.

How can we tell the difference between a mistake that can be fixed and one that can’t? This is an important question because we make mistakes every day.

A mistake that can be fixed is one that does not offend. I do a lot of woodworking. When I cut a board and it doesn’t fit because it is too long, I simply make another cut and say to myself, “No harm, no foul.”

When I cut a board too short, I am offended by my failure. The consequence is the loss of a board, or worse, another trip to the lumber yard, resulting in lost time and money.

A mistake that cannot be fixed is one that offends. It creates harm to someone; it is a foul against them; it causes loss; it hurts. This is why someone who breaks a law is called an offender.

Are you trying to fix an offense today? If so, stop. Your efforts are doomed. Instead, take the steps that lead to redemption. God will forgive, your victims will begin to heal, and you will begin breaking the chains of guilt and regret. Today is the best day to begin the journey.