Five Categories of Mistakes

1. Panic Prompted:
These mistakes are made out of fear or being in a hurry, or they could result out of worry. When we find ourselves in this state, we sometimes panic and make a wrong decision.
Gen. 12:10 tells of a mistake made by Abraham. God had said to Abraham, "you are my man" and through you a nation will be born. You will have a heritage that no other man will have. Stand fast , trust me through all the cares of life and I will bring through your life a nation. With these words still ringing in Abraham's ears, Abraham panicked. The scriptures read, Now there was a famine in the land- there was no bread or meat- apparently not much water either. Things had gotten tight so Abraham went down into Egypt.
Why? He got shook- even though God had said, Abraham stay by me at the altar at Bethel.
Usually when you make a mistake- others follow. Like dominoes falling.
And it came to pass when he was near Egypt, he said to his wife Sarah- See now, I know you are a beautiful woman, and it will come about when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife and they will kill me and let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for well for because of you and that i might live on account of you. Gen. 12, 11-13.
When we panic our whole focus gets twisted.
Another example is when the spies went into the promised land, they came back saying, "no way" there are giants in the land. We are only grasshoppers. Where did they place God?

2. Good intention mistakes
These are mistakes that are made ignorantly when we use the wrong planning or the wrong method.
Moses is a good example of this mistake. Ex. 2: 11, 12 states, when he saw the egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his bretheren, he looked around and when no one was looking, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
There was a good motive in delivering the Hebrews. Moses desire was to defend what was right but his good intentions led to tradegy, the sin of murder. Moses probably thought everyone would understand but they did not. Acts, 7: 23-25

Have you ever mistaken someones wife for their mother? I have

3. Negligent mistakes
These mistakes come from being lazy or from oversight, inconsistancy or just a olain lack of discipline. Oftentimes dads get too busy, preoccupied and therefore negligent. Its a mistake among successful high achieving fathers. Ben Franklin said a little neglect might breed mischief.
For the want of a nail the shoe was lost:
For the want of a shoe a horse was lost:
For the want of a horse a rider was lost:

4. Unrestrained- curiosity mistakes.
These are most attractive to young people. Unrestrained curiosity usually relates to the sensational. We must restrain curiosity to a certain extent. Curiosity is a major part of our lives and common throughout the world. There is an old saying that curiosity killed the cat.

5.Blind spot mistakes
These are the one we repeat most often. The ones we commit out of ignorance or habit and maybe poor parental influence.Paul had a blind spot for John Mark. He was not willing to accept John Mark for what he was. Paul considered him a failure.
Peter had a blind spot- when he was around the Jews he ate Kosher food, but he ate differently around the Gentiles. Usually blind-spot mistakes are more detectable by other people more so than the person or victim.

As individuals, we are probably sure we made the right decisions. However, are we always correct?