I was thinking this morning about regrets.
I have them, we all do.
Some of them cannot be fixed or changed or corrected.
Something we said, something we did, something we didn’t do.
We learn from regret.
We do the same things over and over and regret them and then,
we hopefully stop and quit doing the regrettable things.
We might only have one chance.
When Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s lies, but for a moment.
When Cain slew Abel.
When the fellow Earth dwellers realized the flood would destroy them.
When Judas sold the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, for 30 pieces of silver.
When the people were so angry at Stephen’s words
that they stoned him to death.
Even God Himself has shown regret:
The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth,
and His heart was deeply troubled. Genesis 6:6 NIV
Regret is a terrible feeling.
It makes you wonder how God can love you, even still.
He does, but knowing that does not always make the feelings go away.
We might be reminded of hurts or other messes we have made.
They are helpless feelings and so empty.
The Rich Young Ruler, who chose his wealth over following Jesus,
made a regrettable choice.
The bible does not say whatever happened to him,
if he ever regretted his decision or if he ever repented and changed his mind.
Sometimes when we make choices and that is it.
The Lord will not give us another.
So, the situations we find ourselves in as humans,
can have significant or lesser consequences.
We are learning and growing and being renewed
so that we might embrace God’s ways.
Being open to His thoughts, which are higher than ours,
realizing His love for others and His faithfulness to us and to His word
will help us to truly understand His ways.
Let us realize that He wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Very many mistakes were made by persons in the bible, even great characters.
Very many regrets.
Very many human errors where flesh was allowed to make the choice,
rather than God’s word and His purpose.
God’s mercies are without end. They are new every morning.
Listening to His best for us and for others
will always help us to make regretless decisions.
If we do our best before the Lord, who can fault us?
Jesus is there to help us stay on the right track.
The biggest regret would be not responding to His correction.
So, when you might count your regrets as I did this morning,
let them not burden you, if there are some you still need to learn from,
hand them over to Jesus and let Him do His work in you.
You cannot change what has been done, but God can.
And, even if nothing changes about the regret itself,
God can bind and heal that wound and while it might still be a scar, it is okay.
He forgives and replenishes and makes us strong when we are weak.
The biggest regret would be not regretting your regrets before the Lord.
Scriptural References:
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:1-6
And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass,
when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him.
Genesis 4:8
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:37-39
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued,
whom they of the children of Israel did value;
Matthew 27:9
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart,
and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven,
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened,
and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord,
And cast him out of the city, and stoned him:
and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet,
whose name was Saul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:54-60
And he answered and said unto him,
Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him,
One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved:
for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:20-22
And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;
Deuteronomy 7:9
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man,
that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it?
or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
Numbers 23:19
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:31
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth;
even as a father the son in whom He delighteth.
Proverbs 3:12
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5:7
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9