• Why isn't phonics spelled the way it sounds?
• Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
• If a vegetarian eats only vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
• If you throw a cat out the window, is that kitty litter?

Here's one more: Why do we instinctively deny our failures rather than admit them? You would think we would eventually learn that covering up our mistakes never works. But that doesn't keep us from trying, does it?

Last night I heard a veteran television reporter observe, "It's the same story since the Watergate fiasco. It's not the crime that ends up getting you but the cover-up of the crime."

Actually the tendency to hide our failures predates Watergate. It all started with Edengate. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they automatically felt guilty and tried to cover up their guilt with some ill-fitting fig leaves.

Since that episode in Eden, we've all become rather adept at the same sport. When we fail, our first instinct is to cover up and hope no one notices. When we are exposed, our first impulse is to accuse others and hope everyone agrees.

Failing to accept responsibility for our failures prevents us from receiving the forgiveness we desperately need, and it also precludes us from experiencing the new beginning we desperately desire.

In my new book, Second Chance, Second Act, I explain four benefits of "fessing up to your mess-up":

1. Admitting Failure Allows Us to Receive God's Forgiveness

Augustine said, "God only gives to those whose hands are empty." Only when we are ready to empty ourselves of denials and rationalizations for our failures will we be in a position to receive God's forgiveness for our mistakes.

May I share a secret with you? God already knows about your failures. He's aware of...

— your addiction,

— your bankruptcy,

— your divorce,

— your immorality,

— your squandered opportunities.

But He can't forgive you as long as you're trying to forgive yourself by excusing, denying, or blaming others for your failures. Aren't you ready to take off those ill-fitting fig leaves and ask God to cover your failures with His forgiveness?

2. Admitting Failure Renews Our Emotional and Physical Vitality

Nothing can sap your emotional and physical strength more than lingering guilt over unconfessed mistakes.

King David experienced the physical and emotional downside of denial after his moral failure with Bathsheba. As David reflected on the months he spent covering over his failure, he wrote:

"When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer" (Psalm 32:3-4).

However, once David admitted his failure, he experienced immediate relief: