Forget About It
Forget about It
One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. (Phil. 3:13)
Completely Pointless
Missed opportunities. Mistakes. Bad decisions. Ignorance. Willful disobedience. The unfairness of life. There are plenty of things that can cause us to live with regret. Almost everyone struggles with regret to some extent. We can easily think back on some wrong turns we’ve made and wonder how much better our life could be now had we only known better or chosen differently along the way.
So regret is understandable, but that doesn’t mean it’s helpful. Regret keeps us stuck in the past while God is calling us to go forward with Him into the future. Ultimately, regret does us no good since we can’t change the past. Looking back is helpful only insofar as we’re gleaning lessons from past mistakes and receiving healing and forgiveness from God. That’s about it.
High Stakes
The truth is, regret is one of Satan’s greatest tools in wreaking damage in the lives of believers. The devil is out to discourage us and defeat us any way he can. Keeping us stuck in the past, feeling guilty over past sins and mistakes, is one of his go-to strategies. He lies to us, telling us that God can’t redeem our past. He chips away at our faith and destroys our hope. But we don’t have to believe his lies. We can live in the hope of lessons learned and grace received.
Bottom Line
By God’s grace, you don’t have to stay stuck in the past, overwhelmed with regrets. He doesn’t want you there, and you don’t want to be there either.