Regrets and Fears Can Be Stinkers!
While preparing for my part in a church service recently, I was moved as I read John 3:16-21, actually the whole chapter 3. The chain of thoughts went something like this:
*I am so grateful that Jesus Christ paid the sin debt I owed so I am forgiven.
*My sins were generated by the SIN of leaving God out of my life.
*I tried hard to live as good a life as I could but was unable to even keep the standards I set for myself, much less the righteous standard of God.
*Now I know that trusting Jesus’ and receiving His gift of righteousness makes me right with God.
*Even now I can slip into regrets of the past or fears of the future when I forget Whose I am and how much God loves me.
I wonder how many others live with regrets. Do others allow those regrets to occupy space and time in their souls to the point that they hold them back and make them doubt God’s love. Do you ever forget your position as a forgiven member of Jesus’ family? Would you join me in taking those regrets captive and bringing them to God in prayer, admitting that you should have done things differently, but you know now that God can make all things work together for your good and His glory…even the good of others? If you need to ask forgiveness of God, do that. If you need to make it right with another person, do that if it is possible. The regrets can actually make your relationship with God stronger if you take them to Him and learn to leave them with Him. Don’t worry if taking them to Jesus needs to happen several times.(Romans 8:1)
What about your fear of the future? If you and I have a track record of messing up, creating a long list of regrets, we may project that into our “future-thinking” time. The better we handle (or learn to let God handle) our regrets, the less likely we’ll have those heavy thoughts weighing us down. Freedom from regrets makes us more aware of the truth that “if God can handle my past and set me free, then He is fully capable of keeping me out of “regret prison” or bailing me out if I get locked up again in my thoughts. What do you fear? What makes you insecure? Would you identify some of those things and face them now by accepting God’s love for you? I John 4:18
I regret that I didn’t know my dad better. I regret that I was too busy too often to know my children more deeply than I did. I regret that I wasted time on my selfish wants rather than giving to meet the needs of my wife. By God’s grace Jesus is healing the regrets of my past and keeping me from wasting time back there and keeping me from living in fear of being a failure in my future. Yes, I have failed, but I am not a failure. I am a loved, forgiven, growing child of God whose past is forgiven and whose future is secure in my Lord Jesus Christ.
When regrets or fears control us, we are keeping our hearts inside the jail of “stinking’ thinkin’. When God heals our regrets and keeps our heart in His love, we are set free to live today as it is meant to be lived…..in freedom, in love, in His power.
How about you? The Prison of Stinkin’ Thinkin’, are you in or out?