Breaking Free from Regret
"I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14
Regret has a way of showing up when you are most vulnerable. It sneaks into your thoughts late at night, making you replay the past and wonder what could have been. What if you had made a different choice? What if you had gone to college? What if you had chosen a different career? What if you had married someone else? These thoughts may seem like simple reflections, but if you are not careful, regret can become a prison.
The Bible is filled with stories of regret. Adam and Eve regretted eating the forbidden fruit. Moses regretted killing the Egyptian guard. David regretted his affair with Bathsheba. Paul regretted persecuting Christians. Peter regretted denying Jesus. Even God himself, after the flood, declared that he would never again destroy the earth in that way. Regret is not foreign to the human experience. It is a natural response to choices that carry consequences.
For some, regret is about what they did. For others, it is about what they did not do. Studies show that younger people regret their actions while older people regret their inactions. Either way, regret convinces you that the past holds power over your future, that your mistakes define you, and that some doors will never reopen. If you believe that lie, you become a captive to your own history, trapped in a reality that no longer exists.
But that is not how God works. He does not hold you hostage to yesterday. His plan is forward-moving. Regret may remind you of where you have been, but it does not have the authority to tell you where you are going. If you let it, regret will keep you stuck, but God is calling you to press on. No mistake is bigger than his grace, and no failure is beyond his ability to redeem. The past may be written, but the future is still unfolding. You do not have to live imprisoned by what was. You can step forward into what God still has planned.
Regret has a way of showing up when you are most vulnerable. It sneaks into your thoughts late at night, making you replay the past and wonder what could have been. What if you had made a different choice? What if you had gone to college? What if you had chosen a different career? What if you had married someone else? These thoughts may seem like simple reflections, but if you are not careful, regret can become a prison.
The Bible is filled with stories of regret. Adam and Eve regretted eating the forbidden fruit. Moses regretted killing the Egyptian guard. David regretted his affair with Bathsheba. Paul regretted persecuting Christians. Peter regretted denying Jesus. Even God himself, after the flood, declared that he would never again destroy the earth in that way. Regret is not foreign to the human experience. It is a natural response to choices that carry consequences.
For some, regret is about what they did. For others, it is about what they did not do. Studies show that younger people regret their actions while older people regret their inactions. Either way, regret convinces you that the past holds power over your future, that your mistakes define you, and that some doors will never reopen. If you believe that lie, you become a captive to your own history, trapped in a reality that no longer exists.
But that is not how God works. He does not hold you hostage to yesterday. His plan is forward-moving. Regret may remind you of where you have been, but it does not have the authority to tell you where you are going. If you let it, regret will keep you stuck, but God is calling you to press on. No mistake is bigger than his grace, and no failure is beyond his ability to redeem. The past may be written, but the future is still unfolding. You do not have to live imprisoned by what was. You can step forward into what God still has planned.
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