Regrets

Just some scattered thoughts about regrets.

I started researching verses for this blog entry because some feelings of regrets have crept into my mind. I was going to find verses similar to "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" under the concept that regrets occur when we aren't conscientious about our surrenders and say/do things, or don't say/don't do things.

Just to touch on that... We need to live without any blinders on. We need to be fully aware of what is going on. Sometimes we miss opportunities to allow God to encourage someone through us, or we might be ignorant of facts and assume the worst(Either for someone else, or assume you are responsible--[pride?]), or we do or say something because we are "in the moment."

Be careful with your words and actions. You don't get a redo. What you say and do will remain etched in history.


But, going beyond that, I found a verse written by Paul: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (Phil. 3:13)


I also came upon a blog that states how regretful thinking produces depressive thinking.

So that's where I'll place the main focus on this entry. Regret begets depression. And depression saps us of our energy--rendering us, eventually, useless for God. (Is that not Satan's foundational tactic--to cause us to not be able to serve God?)

Regret is when we look behind us(Sometimes with fresh eyes and new knowledge) and kick ourselves for not seeing such and such, for doing such and such, for saying such and such. Then we begin to feel bad about it. Wishing we would've been more observant, more knowledgeable.

At least in my situation, I begin to connect dots to the present. "What if because I did this or that...what if so/so is treating me this way, or thinks of me this way?" And obviously that is when regret produces depression and produces sin.

What is past is past. We can't change it. We can only learn and adapt from it.

When we give into regret we put on the same blinders that blocked our view in the first place when this all began. And when that happens, we are susceptible to overlooking things, saying or doing things that will cause us regret in the future.

Regret has its place--but only for momentary review. In order to grow, we must acknowledge our shortfalls. But we won't grow if we remain down. We have to stand up and live with an adapted knowledge and perspective.

So, if you are regretting a decision, look to that for a moment, learn, adapt, then forget it and look to the future--look to adaption. If you sinned, then get it right(Note: Sin against man requires getting it right with God and man. Sin against God only requires getting it right with God).

-Kevin