A Reflection On Regret - 365 Pocket Devotions

When I feel paralyzed because of my past

Regrets can haunt us and keep us preoccupied with the past. Yet two truths will keep the past from stealing our joy in the present: our identification with Jesus and our faith in God’s sovereignty. We must remember that we stand before God on the basis of what He has done, not what we have done. And we can trust that God knew about our mistakes before the foundation of the world and planned to compensate accordingly. Nothing we’ve done has surprised Him. God never asked us to look back and lament about our shortcomings. We confessed when we came to Jesus that we were sinful failures, and He saved us. It’s time to move forward.

Do memories of the past hound you? Take an active stance against them. Be assured that the enemy’s accusations are irrelevant once you’ve found your identity in the perfect Son of God. Find heroes of the faith in Scripture who failed—it’s a pretty easy task—and see how God sovereignly worked out His purposes in spite of their failures. Rest in the present and look forward with hope. Nothing in your past can thwart God’s plan.

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race.

Philippians 3:13-14