Regrets

How many times in life have I felt regret. I’ve regretted things I bought, things I did, and places I’ve gone. I not only regret things I do, but I also regret things I’ve left undone. If only I had not opened my mouth, or if only I had not procrastinated. The older I’ve gotten, I try my hardest to live my life with no regrets, but regardless of how hard I try, it is a rare day that I don’t have more than one regret when my head hits the pillow. I remember as a child playing with a paint can lid out in the back yard; I was flying it around like a frisbee. My little brother was in his wind up swing in the back yard and my parents were outside as well. My Dad told me to stop playing with the paint can lid because I was going to hit my brother. In my rebellion, I continued to throw the lid behind his back and what do you know, I hit my brother. I will never forget that day, because I got one more whipping. Paul says in Romans 7:15-17 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me."

It seems I always say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing and go the wrong places. Hannah is always saying "I wish I could just start this day over." She will just keep digging her hole deeper–she’ll do something wrong, then lie about it, then get angry and throw a screaming fit because she got punished which only leads to more punishment. Sin just has a way of leading us down a long road. I don’t even have to try to be bad, it’s just my nature. Adam and Eve are the only ones in the world (besides Jesus) to know what it was like to live a day without regrets. They had a perfect world with no sin nature and life was grand, until the serpent tempted Eve and she gave in. Can you just imagine the regret she tasted that day. For the first time she felt shame, guilt, pain, heartbreak, and yearning. She had never felt those things before. She wanted to hide, but couldn’t escape the feelings. How many of you have hidden at home because you couldn’t bear to face someone? Have you ever walked down a different aisle at Wal-Mart because meeting that person brought memories you didn’t want to relive? Have you ever stayed home from church because you didn’t want to face God? He sees you regardless of where you are, and sadly, someday you will face him regardless of how badly you want to hide. One of my favorite sayings, which I’ve blogged about before, is "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it." God has given us the ultimate "new day" as spoken of in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" I can only do my best, and pray that God will take the old nasty human part and use it as best he can. At the end of the day, I’ve got to give my regrets to God and move on to another day.