Regrets

By His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:6).

What is the worst thing you’ve ever done? Have you lied to your parents, your children, or the person you married? Have you broken a promise to never reveal something told you in confidence? Have you made fun of the way another person looks or acts? Have you told someone that you hate them or that you wished they were dead?

What weighs heavily on your conscience? Are you guilty of shoplifting or stealing from a friend? Are you guilty of egging someone’s house or putting graffiti on a wall? Are you guilty of wasting time while on the job? Are you guilty of taking the credit for another person’s hard work?

What memories torment you? Have you forced someone to have sex with you? Have you bruised another person or caused them to bleed? Have you used threats to get your own way? Have you made a bad decision because you refused to accept good advice from others?

What do you regret? Are you guilty of passing stranded motorists without stopping to offer help? Are you guilty of spending all your money on yourself and never donating to charity? Are you guilty of hiding your feelings from others, never letting anyone get close to you? Are you guilty of taking God for granted, never spending time in church and only praying when you’re in trouble or want something?

We all have regrets. We have all made mistakes, said and done things that filled our lives with lingering pain and unhappy memories. We are sinners by nature and habit, people who love selfishly and serve others only grudgingly. Scripture says, The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is only trouble and sorrow (Psalm 90:10).

This is why Jesus suffered on the cross; He took the misery of all human sin upon Himself so we could be freed from it. In exchange, He offers forgiveness—complete release from guilt’s hold on you. Jesus offers you mercy, and He offers it freely—all He wants is that you kneel beneath that bloodstained cross and ask Him to give you peace.