Regrets

“No regrets!” is a common response for many people when they look back on their lives. I don’t believe them, particularly if they are not Christians. It may sound good and I’m sure a lot of people respond with envy because they have regrets and would admire anyone who claims to have none.

But I don’t think that’s the way it works in a fallen world. We all would change some things from our pasts if we were able to do so. I would want to change the way I treated young women (girls really) when I was a teenager, using them merely for sexual pleasure. There was consent, but that is beside the point. I cared only for what they could give me, not for who they were. I regret that. I regret ever telling my dad as a young teen that I hated him. I don’t remember ever apologizing for that, even though later I was very sorry I did so.

I have a feeling you, too, have at least a few regrets in your life as well. For many years, mine ate at me. Some I asked forgiveness for, but many were toward people I long ago lost touch with. Decades ago, I read II Corinthians 7:10. “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” I understood the first part, that godly sorrow leads to repentance, but I had to wrestle with the middle part. I had repented, but I still had regrets and thought I should have.

So, over time, I meditated on why the Lord would say I should have no regrets. The first thing I realized is that chronic regretting does bring about a sort of death. It kills the joy we should have in Christ. It holds us in bondage when we were meant to be set free. And it keeps us swimming in a form of pride which claims our actions are too bad to accept total forgiveness from God.

God’s desire is to free us from the consequences of sin—past, present, and future. He did that through the Cross and Resurrection. We were set free at that time and the only thing that could place us back into bondage is to refuse to accept his offer.

How do you think Paul lived his years as a Christian without regret? First, as an expert in the Torah and the Prophets, he totally misunderstood their meaning until he became a follower of Jesus.  Second, he put believers in prison and approved of their deaths as punishment for what he believed to be blasphemy. And yet, he fully admits that he is the worst of sinners (I Timothy 1:16). How could he possibly not have regrets?

At the heart of his understanding is God’s granting of forgiveness to anyone who seeks it, regardless of what they have done. Thus, if the Lord is willing to forgive, who are we not to forgive ourselves? Are we greater than God? This is the pride I wrote about earlier. Having chronic regrets over things in our lives is prideful, because it says God’s grace is not good enough; we thus have to make up for it with our regrets. Paul clearly understood this was not true and unnecessary. His post-Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-19) life was lived without regret because he believed in the full cleansing power of God’s grace.

You and I as believers are called to do the same—live our lives with no regrets because we are totally forgiven!

© Jim Musser 2025 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.