Friday, August 28, 2020

Skip Regret Go Directly to Repentance

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

I don’t have regrets.  

I do have a lot of repentances.

Regrets are like weights.  They can drag you down, even long after the fact.

You did something you regret.  It was bad.  It was wrong.  It was dumb.  It was embarrassing.  

You hurt someone.  You committed a crime.  You failed.  You stumbled.  You fell.

Regrets can come in unlimited ways.  Every story is different, but they end up in the same stinking valley called Regret.

Fortunately God has given us a mechanism to deal with regret.  It’s called repentance.

Whatever you did.  Whatever sin you committed.  Whatever way you went off the rails and into the weeds, here is the solution.  Repent.

What does repent mean?  It means you admit it, you confess it, you own up to it, you’re sorry for it, you don’t ever want to do it again, you give it up to God, and you receive His forgiveness for it.

And then it is done.  You have repented and it is done.

And then that old snake Regret comes calling.  Old memories come back.  It’s vivid in your mind.  Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did that, said that, went there, it’s so awful.

But wait a minute.  What are you supposed to do about it?  

You can’t go back in time and make it not happen.  

Sometimes the people involved aren’t even alive anymore.  Now what?  You can’t even tell them you’re sorry.

 It doesn’t matter.  You can’t change the past and it doesn’t matter because God has given us the solution.  Repentance.

Don’t wallow in regret.  It does no good.  It helps no one.  It changes nothing.  It makes no difference.  It only drags you down, wastes time, drains your energy, saps your emotions, and for no good reason.

So when Regret comes knocking, don’t answer.  Don’t listen.  Don’t waste a minute thinking about it.

Skip regret and go directly to repentance.  That is God’s gift to us for handling all the stains.

In Isaiah 1:18, God says, “...though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...”

Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west,” that’s how far God has removed our transgressions from us.

Hallelujah.

So how to handle regrets?  Don’t handle them at all.  Skip it.

Skip regret, go directly to repentance, and be done with it once and for all.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.


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