Regret is when you wake up the day after Thanksgiving and realize that you don’t own a pair of those pants your grandfather used to wear. You know…the ones that tend to stretch when you attempt to fasten them and begin to struggle as the button gets closer to the buttonhole. And you wonder what happened over the past 24 hours that caused you to swell up enough just enough to make our pants uncomfortable and cause you to struggle to breathe. The tryptophan in the turkey caused you to sleep away the afternoon as the turkey and dressing magically transformed into 5 extra pounds and found its way to unintended places. You woke up only to go for round two after taking the leftover lunch from its temporary home in the oven. After sleeping through most of a football game you really didn’t care anything about, you hugged and said goodbyes to family members you see once or twice a year and went back home for a long Thanksgiving night’s sleep. Finally, you woke up this morning with one word on your mind…..REGRET.
[Tweet “So much of what we do in life causes us regret because we fail to think through the consequences. “]
Regret for what we did or said
So much of what we do in life causes us regret because we fail to think through the consequences of our actions. Maybe eating too much food is a regret we have, but that regret has no real lasting consequences. Most regrets haunt us because we made the wrong decision to do or say something and the consequence was hurt and pain. So many of us struggle with that kind of impulsivity. We feel it and then say it. Someone says or does something to us, we get offended, and then “strike back” or formulate an extravagant plan to “get back” at our offender. Did you see what we missed?
Regret for what we didn’t do or say
Someone is wronged. Someone is hurt. Someone needs help. Sometimes we have regrets because we have the opportunity and resources to help, but instead choose poorly. Imagine seeing someone who has a genuine need. It grabs our heart and we choose not to act. Maybe it was because we didn’t want to take the extra time it would steal from our day or maybe we didn’t want to spend the extra money it would take from our bank account. Maybe someone needs encouragement and we fail to speak those works that would help. Did you see what we missed?
Action is the remedy for regret
Here’s what we missed. We bypassed a major circuit in our bodies. We felt something and we either reacted by saying or doing something…..or we didn’t. Either way, it caused great regret. What did we bypass? We bypassed God’s Word. We failed to think through the repercussions of our action or inaction. God has given us advice to help transform our regret to relief. He tells us “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). So often we judge others by our action or inaction. Mercy provides the remedy for regret. When we practice mercy, we withhold the punishment WE think others deserve. Remember, mercy is not something easy to show. In fact, it is oftentimes painful to show. It requires us to grow in our relationship with the Lord and trust Him as we make good decisions in our relationships with others. There is a question that we all should ask. How will others place their faith and trust in Jesus if we continue to hammer them because of their mistakes and aggravating actions? When we show mercy, we are more like Christ and point others to Him. There is perhaps no better way to show true change in our own lives than to show mercy only Jesus can empower us to show. And by the way, when we can’t button our pants on Black Friday, remember the regret that we feel is our own fault! Happy Thanksgiving!