Regret is a concept more easily felt than defined. We have all experienced the long-simmering pain of regrettable words and actions. And all too often, what happened in the past casts a dark cloud over the future. Wouldn’t you prefer to say goodbye to regret?
Two Ways to Say Goodbye to Regret
Through the ups and downs of my life, I have learned that there are two primary ways to say goodbye to regret. The first involves learning how to process the pain and remorse of past mistakes, failures, and sins. Is it really possible to put regret in the rearview mirror? Absolutely!
The Creator of the Universe, I have learned, is willing and able to take each and every dark situation and turn it into something good. God won’t change the past for us, but the past will lose its sting when we find meaning and light coming out of darkness.
The other key to say goodbye to regret involves avoiding it entirely. How do we do that? By seeking spiritual wisdom from the God who knows all things. The Bible treats divine wisdom as true treasure, and if we value it, the Lord will not hesitate to fill our storehouse.
Spiritual Wisdom
God’s spiritual wisdom will change our lives in radical ways! Not only will we make better decisions, we’ll also feel less pain of regret and experience more of His blessings.
As exciting as this all may sound, actually living by spiritual wisdom can sometimes be quite challenging. Not only does God’s wisdom often run against the tide of our human cultures, it can also conflict with our own desires.
Pursuing God’s wisdom, I have discovered, can be compared to following a life-giving river. We can’t tell that river where to go; we can only follow where it leads. And even though where it leads is always good, our natural tendencies often lead us in other directions.
Seek Wisdom
Do you truly want to say goodbye to regret? Do all you can to seek God for His divine wisdom! He gives the riches of wisdom freely to His children, but only when we value it for what it is.
But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 (NET)
Wisdom is supreme—so acquire wisdom,
and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding! Proverbs 4:7 (NET)
Bob Santos is the author of Say Goodbye to Regret: Discovering the Secret to a Blessed Life.
