Regret

Sorry, I did not post this yesterday, so I will double post today.

2 Corinthians 7: 10-1

10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

We all have it on some level. There are things in our past that we regret. Maybe it was something that was said that ended a relationship, or an action on our part that we wish we could change. Regret is a very human emotion. It is nothing more than recognition of a wrong in our life.

Regret is a very selfish emotion, it breeds a lack of self confidence, and it makes us second guess what we know is right. However, regret can be a useful tool, as this passage shows recognizing the wrong, and turning from it, or making it right, brings about salvation. It is being honest with ourselves that will allow us to move beyond the regret. As we all know, none of us are perfect. We all stumble, we all slip along the way, this should not bring us regret. It should be the beginning of the search for redemption.

When we are honest about the issues surrounding the feeling of regret we are left with two choices, we honestly accept our short coming and make a change to make it right, or we recognize that as sad as it might be, the situation might be a sad one, but it is necessary for us to grow in our relationship with God. Either way, there is no need for regret….no there is no room for regret. If we wrong someone and make it right, that is all we can do, if we make a change in our life and as a result we suffer loss, as long as that change was moving you closer to God, there should be no regret.

Regret is the feeling of us taking our focus off of the Lord, and turning in on to ourselves. We would all do well to focus on the two most important rules our Lord gave us. As we take our lives in that direction, we will see there is no regret, only hope, promise, and salvation.

Peace,
Rev. Thetford