“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
2 Corinthians 7:10(NIV)
An old gospel song, titled, “It is well with my soul,” has a line in it that goes like this:
“My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”
Those song lyrics may not seem profound to everyone, but to anyone who has experienced the grace of God’s forgiveness, those words resonate with showers of grace.
The cross is the common ground between Christians of all different backgrounds, because forgiveness in Christ has no denomination.
Even though they’ve been forgiven, many people struggle with regrets. Regret can become embedded in the human psyche, leading to all kinds of unhealthy thinking. That’s what Paul refers to as the worldly sorrow that brings death. We may retain regrets over words spoken, wrong choices we’ve made or having lived a wrong lifestyle. I’ve met people who are living with the painful regret of something they once neglected to do, when they had the chance to do it. Regret weighs so heavily on our human hearts, and although God forgives us of anything we ask, some people still need to forgive themselves.
The beauty of God’s forgiveness is that He removes it completely from the official record, leaving no regret. He doesn’t forgive as broken people do, by burying the hatchet, and then digging it back up again. When God forgives us, He removes any and all transgressions as far as the east is from the west, so that we have no business ever bringing it up again.
With God, forgiven means forgotten.
(Psalm 103:12)
I have learned that there’s something way more important to God than what we have done or not done in our past, and that is “who we are becoming.”
The purpose of every hardship, test, trial or sorrow is to shape us into the person God is making us into. He builds our character and increases our endurance through every failure or trial, and regardless of what we’ve been through or have been forgiven of in the past, we shouldn’t be holding on to regrets.
When I think about all the wrong choices and mistakes I’ve made, or the tragedies I have experienced over the years, I realize that I am a different person today than I was fifty years ago, and it’s all because of the grace of God. Jesus never left my side, and as time passes, I realize it more today. I am more rooted in my faith and by His grace, have more endurance. The Lord is still teaching me new things, but I know His grace is more than enough to sustain me through whatever comes.
Jesus said that Heaven celebrates each time someone repents.
(Luke 15:7) If there’s that much joy over one person’s forgiveness, who are we to interfere with Heaven’s celebrations? God has forgiven us, so that we can rejoice with Heaven, forgive ourselves, and start singing,
“🎵 It is well with my soul.”
Scripture tells us that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Hope is what keeps us looking ahead, not backward at our past, because God still has good plans and many blessings yet to come, for our future.
Lord, we leave all of our regrets and past transgressions where they belong, nailed to your cross. Thank you for your endless love and the many blessings that are yet to come. Amen
