And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Mathew 26:75
Regret in everyday English usage refers to a feeling of sorrow or remorse for a fault, act, loss or disappointment.
In biblical context, regret is a deep feeling of sorrow arising from past events now seen as sin, mistakes or misfortunes. It can lead to true repentance or destructive bitterness. For instance when Peter denied Christ he came to the realisation of his act and wept bitterly afterwards.
Yes, as Christians we regret our past mistakes, but that is not our focus. We keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Paul put it this way: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of (the goal). But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14). Shame and regret are part of what is behind us. We must learn to forget.
Romans 8:1 is a great comfort to any believer who struggles with leftover feelings of shame and regret: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are sinners, but we are justified. We have a shameful past, but we have a better future. We used to walk in foolishness and rebellion, but now we walk in newness of life (Titus 3:3–7; Romans 6:4). God has forgiven those sins we feel shame and regret over. We can move on. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The focus of my post is therefore on regrets emanating from seemingly harmless infractions that do not amount to sin in the truest sense of the word sin as espoused in the Bible.
As explained, Christians do not worry about regret pertaining to sin as this has been taken care of by Jesus Christ. Shift your focus from sin unto Christ Jesus.
But we sometimes take some decisions, make some utterances, take certain actions and inactions et cetera that are not necessarily sin in themselves but an after thought of these infractions brings regret. We may make an uninformed comment or decision concerning a person or a situation only to realise we were unruly or unreasonable in our comments or decisions. Some of these infractions although may not amount to committing a sin may leave us in a deep remorse for a life time.
As a result, one prayer topic we must always pray, is to be able to discern what we are to do at every moment of our lives. The children of Issachar knew what was necessary at any moment:
'And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do;...'
1 Chronicles 12:32
We make decisions concerning the profession to pursue or practice, business(es) to undertake, who to marry, what to say or do, in fact we make decisions every second of our lives. At the end of each day it is important to sit back and assess the decisions and utterances made; actions and inactions taken vis-a-avis the God given purpose of our lives and promptings from the Holy Spirit through unfettered fellowship. This will help us reduce or minimise the margins of error thereby minimising the regrets.
Nothing is so painful like failure to assess your drift in life only to realise you could have imparted your world much greater than what you did. Bible says no one lights a candle and puts it under a bushel. So, let your light so shine before men so that they will see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven. Don't take things for granted. The very little things that we think don't matter at all do matter. As, if you are faithful with the little things you will definitely be faithful with the bigger things.
God has a purpose for your life. Hence apart from becoming born again you MUST live or fulfill that purpose. Therefore, be weary of decisions, utterances, actions and inactions made from the flesh, premised on greed, self-serving interest, corruption, ill-intent et cetera and be circumspect in your decisions, utterances, actions and inactions.
We can live without these kind of regrets or minimise them if and only if we study the WORD OF GOD, pray and have constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Bro Ritchie Edukwesi WOANYA