Philippians 3: 8-9 “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith–counting on Christ alone.” Living Bible TLB

When the dogs and I walk the wooded trails I find myself thinking and praying. And some days those thoughts are of regret. The older I get in Christ, the more I recognize just how wrong I have sometimes been in the past, though at the time I did not see it that way. And when I have these revelations I also wish that I had or could, even now, go back and do things differently. I wish I had been better, obeyed more often, listened more closely. I wish I had not disappointed God so much. And yet I can’t go back and do it again. None of us can, for what is done is done.

But what I can do is to change my focus to the solution to my regrets. Instead of dwelling on where and when I was not good enough, I must remember that I never can be good enough to be saved and transformed by anything other than by trusting Christ to save me; by having faith in God’s way of making me right with Him and also with the world around me.

Christ trusted that God’s love for Him would be enough, that it would not fail. It would not fail even when God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV.

He bore ALL man’s sin, past, present and future on the cross, and yet God forgave that sin and raised Him up from the dead, back not just to life but to eternal life. And He did all of this because Christ trusted Him to do so.

Likewise we too must trust. We too must have faith that no matter what we have done, what regrets we may have, trusting that our sins are forgiven in Christ as we recognize and confess them with a repentant heart, makes us right with God, now and for eternity.

So if regrets are plaguing you this day. Present them once and for all to God with sorrow in your heart and faith in His goodness and then leave them at the throne of grace. Turn your focus from your own shortcomings and regrets to the solution: the glory of Christ and the work He has done on our behalf, past, present and future on the cross at Calvary.

Prayer: Father God, thank You that in Christ all our sins are forgiven. Thank You that we don’t have to be perfect in ourselves but have been made perfect by faith in Him, counting on Christ alone. In whose name we pray. Amen.

Lynne Phipps Atlin, B.C.