Joel Osteen - Don't Be Defined By Your Mistakes
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Joel Osteen encourages believers not to let past mistakes, failures, or negative labels define their identity or limit their future, drawing from examples like Bill Buckner, Doubting Thomas, Moses, Peter, and his own father. He stresses that God’s mercy covers mistakes, His calling is irrevocable, and what may seem like failure or a desert season is often God refining and preparing us for greater destiny.
Don’t Let Mistakes Define You
I want to talk to you today about «Don’t be defined by your mistakes.» We can all look back and see times where we gave in to temptation, we let our guard down and compromised, we were sloppy and didn’t handle a situation the way we should. It’s easy to be defined by one mistake in life, by one moment, by divorce, by a business that didn’t make it, by how we raised our children.
The enemy is called the accuser; he would love for you to go through life letting that one mistake, that one bad season cause you to be condemned, where you’re not passionate about your dreams. But that mistake didn’t stop God’s plan. You may have failed, but you are not a failure. That was a moment in your life, that was one season; it doesn’t determine your future. Don’t let that mistake define who you are.
If you go around wearing negative labels like «Divorced,» «Addicted,» «Failed,» «Compromised,» it will keep you from the fullness of what God has in store.
If you’re a baseball fan, you may remember the name Bill Buckner. He was a star player for the Boston Red Sox for many years. He had more hits than Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams. One season he won the batting title, had the highest batting average in all of baseball. He was a great teammate, a leader in the clubhouse.
But in 1986 during the World Series, he went to field a slow-rolling ground ball and missed it. It went right between his legs, and the other team scored and tied the game. That opponent went on to win the World Series. The fans were so upset, so disgruntled; they never let him live it down. He became known as the player that missed the ground ball.
Despite his illustrious career, despite all of his hits, all the runs he scored, they didn’t remember any of that. All they remembered was that one bad play, that one mistake. Bill Buckner passed away earlier this year, 33 years after that game. The first line in the national Associated Press article was: Bill Buckner, a star hitter who became known for making one of the most infamous plays in baseball.
Removing Negative Labels
People will try to define you by your mistakes. They’ll try to stick labels on you, remind you of all the times you failed, the times you compromised, the times you didn’t measure up. Sadly, some people will choose to remember your failures more than your victories.
Like with Bill Buckner, despite all the good you do, despite the times you make sacrifices to help others, you’re honoring God, but when you make one mistake, when you go through one bad season, don’t be surprised if people try to convince you to live condemned, like you’re washed up.
«Well, God’s not going to bless you. You missed the ground ball, you went through the divorce, you gave in to temptation. Just sit on the sidelines.» No, don’t let people label you. They don’t determine your destiny. They cannot stop what God has ordained for your life. The only one that can stop you is you.
If you let your mistakes define you, if you wear labels that people stick on you, if you believe the lies from the accuser—that will keep you from your destiny. And when someone keeps bringing up your past mistakes, trying to get you to live condemned, they may not realize it, but they’re working for the accuser.
The enemy uses people. You can’t stop them from putting labels on you, but you can take them right off: «I am not defined by my mistakes. I’m defined by what God says about me. I’m forgiven, I’m redeemed, my past is over, my mistakes are behind me, my failures are in my yesterday. And you know what? I’m not bringing them into today.»
God’s mercy is new every morning. Receive that mercy and move forward. What about the failure? It’s in the past. What about the mistake? It’s covered by mercy. What about the divorce, the compromise, the times I’ve blown it? That’s over and done. Life is too short to let what happened in the past keep you from the great things God has in your future.
From Doubting Thomas to Believing Thomas
After Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, He appeared to some of the disciples as they were meeting in a room. Thomas wasn’t there that day. They went out afterwards and found him. They thought Thomas would be excited to know that they had seen the Lord. Thomas wasn’t buying it. He said, «Unless I see Him with my own eyes, unless I feel the nail prints in His hands, I’m not going to believe.»
Eight days later all the disciples were in a room. Jesus came walking through the door. He went right up to Thomas, held out His hand, and said, «See the nail prints, feel the scars in My side.» Thomas fell on his knees and said, «Lord, I believe.»
What’s interesting is Thomas doubted that one time, but he’s become known as «Doubting Thomas.» People have stuck their labels on him. You would think that he had doubted his whole life, that he was always questioning his faith, but this was just eight days of his life.
It’s easy to judge people by one mistake. It’s easy to let one failure define who you are. If Thomas would have worn that label «Doubter, failure,» he would have missed his purpose. We hear a lot about Doubting Thomas. What we don’t hear much about is: Thomas is the one that took the Gospel to India. It’s believed that he took the message of Christ further than any disciple.
We call him «Doubting Thomas.» You know what God calls him? Believing Thomas, forgiving Thomas, anointed Thomas, favored Thomas. In the same way, God is not judging you by one mistake, by one bad season. Why are you beating yourself up? Why are you wearing labels that people have stuck on you? Why have you settled where you are?
There is an incredible future awaiting you. You haven’t made too many mistakes; you haven’t missed your chance. If you’ll remove the labels that are telling you everything you’re not, how you’ve blown it, you doubted, you failed—that’s in the past; that doesn’t have to stop you.
Moses: Refined in the Desert
The enemy would love for you to go through life living condemned, wearing negative labels: «Doubter,» «Failure,» «Divorce,» «Unworthy.» Do yourself a favor: take off those labels and put on what God says about you: «Forgiven,» «Redeemed,» «Blessed,» «Qualified,» «Victorious.»
Sometimes we make mistakes with good intentions. Bill Buckner wasn’t trying to miss the ground ball. He wasn’t being undisciplined, slacking off. He was being his best and still missed it. You may have done your best, but the relationship didn’t make it. You gave it your all, but the business didn’t succeed.
Like Thomas, your heart is right—you love God—but you didn’t handle the situation the proper way, and now it sets you back. This is what happened to Moses. As a young man, God gave him the dream that he would deliver the Israelites out of slavery. He knew he was supposed to do it, but he got in a hurry and did it out of God’s timing.
He saw a Hebrew slave being mistreated by an Egyptian supervisor. He didn’t think anyone was watching, and he killed the supervisor. Moses wasn’t trying to make a mistake. He wasn’t being defiant. He just made a bad choice. He had to flee for his life. He spent 40 years on the backside of the desert in hiding.
It looked like that one mistake stopped his destiny, that one bad choice disqualified him. I’m sure in the desert thoughts told him, «Moses, you’re a failure. What were you thinking? Why were you so impatient? You blew it.» He was wearing all these negative labels. He thought that mistake would define him.
The good news is God doesn’t judge us by one mistake or by two mistakes or, for some of us, about 10,000 mistakes. God’s calling on your life is irrevocable. He doesn’t change His mind. Moses had given up. He had accepted that he would never accomplish his dream, but God doesn’t give up.
You may have counted yourself out—God has already counted you in. He chose you before you could choose Him. That mistake is not who you are; it’s what you did. It didn’t cancel your destiny. That one bad season doesn’t determine the rest of your life.
Forty years later, when Moses was 80 years old, God came to him and said, «Now, Moses, it’s time. Go deliver My people.» God doesn’t define us by our mistakes; He refines us by our mistakes. He will take those failures and those wrong turns and use them to do a work in us.
John Osteen’s Redemption
Like Moses, you may have blown it. You feel like you’re out in the desert, convinced that you’ve seen your best days. Now get ready—your time is coming. God is about to do a new thing.
My father was married at an early age, and unfortunately the marriage didn’t work out. He had to resign from his church. Denominational leaders told him that he would never pastor again. He didn’t know any better. He put their labels on him: failure, washed up, unqualified.
He didn’t get into the marriage thinking it was going to fail. He had good intentions, but sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we thought. That’s when the enemy goes to work overtime, trying to convince you to let that mistake define who you are.
My father took the bait. He lived condemned, ashamed, embarrassed. He thought that mistake would define the rest of his life. So he got out of the ministry and started selling insurance.
One day he learned what I’m telling you: that our failures don’t cancel God’s plan. God has already taken into account every mistake we would ever make. My father took off the negative labels. He stopped seeing himself as washed up and started seeing himself as forgiven, as redeemed, as a child of the Most High.
He got his passion back and got back in the ministry, started pastoring a church. Eventually met my mother. They fell in love and were married for almost 50 years. Daddy pastored Lakewood for 40 years. It would have never happened if he had let that mistake define who he was.
Peter: Get Back in the Game
You may have made mistakes, but you have to learn to forgive yourself. Quit beating yourself up over what didn’t work out. Sometimes we can forgive others easier than we can forgive ourselves.
God’s mercy is bigger than any mistake that you’ve made. He can still get you to where you’re supposed to be, but you have to do something important: forgive yourself. Quit dwelling on everything you’ve done wrong.
The moment you ask God to forgive you, He forgave you. Not only that, He doesn’t remember your mistakes. Why don’t you quit remembering what God has forgotten?
When Jesus was about to be crucified, He told Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed that night. Peter did exactly what Jesus said. Peter was so down on himself, so ashamed. The Scripture says he went out and wept bitter tears.
Two ladies went to the tomb to check on Jesus' body. An angel appeared and said, «Don’t be afraid. Jesus has risen. Now go tell His disciples and Peter that He is alive.» God was showing us, «I don’t define you by your mistakes. I don’t cancel your destiny because you failed.»
Fifty days later the church was about to be birthed. They needed someone to give the inaugural address. Peter stood up and spoke to the crowd. Three thousand people came to know the Lord.
Maybe you too have failed. The good news is God already knew it was going to happen. It didn’t stop your destiny. Now do your part: take off the negative labels. God is saying: get back in the game.
The Desert Experience
In Matthew chapter 3, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. When He came up out of the water, a voice boomed out announcing that He was the Son of God. Right after this sign of God’s favor, the Scripture says, «Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted for forty days.»
Sometimes what we think is a mistake is really the hand of God. There will be times God takes you into things you don’t understand. You could be down on yourself, thinking, «God, I was being my best. What did I do wrong?»
How do you know that wasn’t the Spirit leading you out there? Some doors are supposed to close. Some people are supposed to walk away. On the way to our destiny, like with Jesus, God will lead us into a desert experience.
As soon as Jesus passed the test, after those forty days, Jesus came out of the desert and started His ministry. What looked like a failure was really leading Him to a new level of His destiny.
Quit being discouraged over what didn’t work out. That business didn’t make it—it feels like a failure. No, that’s not how your story ends. God led you into the desert because He has something much bigger in your future.
Every silent season is not the enemy. Every desert experience is not a bad thing—you don’t know what God is up to. Stay in faith. You’re on the verge of a new level.
A friend of mine pastored a church for thirty years, very successful. But a few years back things began to go downhill. Eventually he had to turn it over to another group. After 30 years he left there, feeling like a failure.
A couple of years later he had the opportunity to work with another ministry. Today he’s impacting more people in a week than he would in a whole year at his church.
Maybe what you think is a failure is really just a desert experience. It’s all a part of God’s plan to get you to where you’ve never dreamed.
My challenge today: don’t let what you’ve been through taint the rest of your life. God wouldn’t have allowed it if it was going to keep you from your purpose.
Whether you brought the trouble on yourself or the Spirit led you into the desert, one thing I can assure you: God is not finished with you. Your mistakes did not cancel your destiny. You wouldn’t be alive if there wasn’t something awesome in your future.
Now, why don’t you take off all the negative labels and put on some new labels: forgiven, redeemed, child of the Most High God? If you’ll do this, I believe and declare, despite your mistakes, despite your failures, despite your doubts, you are still going to leave your mark and become who you were created to be. Right now guilt is leaving, discouragement is leaving, favor is coming, promotion is coming, breakthroughs are coming, healing is coming, the fullness of your destiny, in Jesus' name.