Wouldn’t it be nice if we could live a life with no regrets. I have actually met people who said they have no regrets. That if they had it to do all over again they would change nothing about their lives. Maybe I’m just being skeptical, but I find that hard to believe. It would be very hard to live a life with no regrets. Maybe it was something they said. Maybe it was something they did. Maybe it was something they didn’t say or didn’t do. If we are honest with ourselves I think we all would say we have done or said things we regret. Now, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t change anything that has happened to me. The trials in my life have actually served me well. God has used the difficult situations in my life to mold be into the person I am today. I don’t regret these things. What I regret are the things said and done that may have hurt others. I regret things I have said to my wife in anger, I regret not sharing my faith when led to do so, I regret spending too much time in front of the T.V. and less time with my children. I regret wasting time and money on things that are not going to matter a hill of beans when I die. Sound familiar?
So how do we deal with regret? For some regret turns into guilt. Guilt becomes a huge weight that keeps us from living this life the way God intends for us to live it. So first we need forgiveness. Secondly we need restoration and healing. Only God can offer forgiveness. Jesus has provided the way to forgiveness by his death on the cross. The restoration and healing takes place after we let Him in our lives to begin cleaning house and repairing the damage that has been done. I like the way David puts it in his Psalm.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. (Psalm 40:2)
Even when we find ourselves up to our neck in sin, God is able to pull us out if we are willing to reach for Him. When he sets our feet on the rock, there is only one thing left to do… Move on.
The night before Jesus was crucified he was with his disciples observing what we now call the “Lord’s Supper”. He told his followers that many of them would forsake him. Peter spoke up and said that he would never betray his lord, even if it meant dying. Jesus looked straight at Peter and told him before the rooster crowed that he (Peter) would deny him not just once, but three times (Matthew 26:17-35). If you are familiar with the rest of they story you know that Peter did just that. Not just once but three times just as Jesus predicted. The scripture says that Peter wept bitterly after he heard the rooster crow (Luke 22:54-60). Sounds like regret to me.
This was the lowest point of Peter’s life. I believe that Peter believed that he would never deny Jesus. What Peter did not understand was his human condition. You see Peter was acting out of his flesh. After Jesus rose from the grave he told his disciples that they would receive a helper. This helper is the Holy Spirit. In the opening chapters of Acts we find that when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they received power. Peter stood up that day and preached to a large crowd that had gathered. Over 3,000 were saved that day. Peter, the man who denied Christ three times was now boldly proclaiming the gospel. What was the difference? He was no longer acting out of his flesh, but rather by the Spirit.
When we act out of our human flesh, there will be regrets. When we allow God to live through us by His Spirit amazing things happen.
Regret Today
By Catherine Pulsifer, © 2007
How many times do we say something that we immediately realized was not the right thing to say?
How many times do we look back on an event and think, if only I had….
How many times do we do something that we wish hadn’t done?
You can’t change what has been said.
You can’t change a past event.
You can’t change what has been done.
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Do you call it regret, sorrow, repentance?
Do you think about what might have been?
Do you relive an event the way it should have been?
Forget about regret, and focus.
Focus on today, not on the past.
Focus on what you can do, not what you didn’t do.
The only thing to regret is living in the past
The only thing to feel sorrow for is not living each day to the fullest.
The only thing to do to repent is to sincerely say, I’m sorry.
Don’t live your life regretting yesterday.
Live your life so tomorrow you won’t regret today.
