A Life of No Regrets

Do you have regrets? I sure do. Would you like me to tell you what they are? Forget it.

We all have regrets about certain things from our past, but what do we do about them? That is the overwhelming aspect of regret. It is so permanent. That is why we feel the emotion called regret, because it accompanies a permanent condition about our past that we are unable to change. We can try to make ammends for our past, but those ammends do not take away things we've done and nor to they erase our memory. Other people will remember what we've done, and so will we. Those memories can be haunting.

But what does God remember about our past? We can be encouraged by looking at the life of Abraham. Abraham is known by God for his great faith. Hebrews 11:8-19 is the record of Abraham that God reveals to us. There is no recalling of his many failures in this passage of scripture. Instead, only his successes are recalled. Specifically, Hebrews 11:8-19 recalls three times when Abraham had faith in God, by obeying God through doing that which was unconventional, inconvenient and uncomfortable. This is what God remembers about Abraham.

Wow! One choice of faith to surrender one's life can overcome a lifetime of sinful bad choices. I am not suggesting we don't live with the consequences of our choices, but God recalls them no more. I may live with the consequences of my sin amongst other people, but I don't have to before God. While I may remember them, and others may want to define me by them, God remembers them no more. In fact, the Bible tells us that our sin and wrong, selfish decisions are behind God. He sees them no more. They are covered over by Christ's shed blood for me. Faith enables this to occur.

I am so encouraged, because I have made so many bad choices. I am thankful because Jesus made a choice to die for me, and I chose to have faith in him. His decision was gut wrenching, mine was easy. It does not seem fair that I get off, but I thank God it is not fair.