My apologies for this late Christmas message. I’ve had COVID, and when that was eventually over, I got flu! It’s a nightmare for me to just lie in bed as I have to keep to my daily ‘to do’ list come what may. I’m told that I do in a day what some take a week to do. I’m just not a procrastinator, yet sometimes wish I were as it would make life easier! It’s probably a flaw on my part, how I seem to quite unintentionally make guests feel uncomfortable when I’m always rushing around, often told to ‘sit down’. But then, we are all flawed one way or another.
Anyway, while having no choice but to be flat on my back getting through dozens of Lemsips, I started thinking about a New Year approaching. I like a New Year approaching, always having made New Year revolutions which I keep in my Bible as a reminder. I love ticking any off as the months go by. There’s nothing wrong in self-improvement. This time, I’m thinking about regrets, and the parable of the man who had two very different sons.
“A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. And he said, I will not: but afterward he regretted it and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise, and he answered ‘I will’ but he did not go’“. (Matthew 21:28-31).
I know this parable speaks of different things to theologians and preachers alike. But to me it speaks of ‘regret.’ The one son ‘regretted.’
I’m sure most of us have regrets about what we did, or didn’t do last year. And I always see a New Year as something special, such as a time to rectify, a new start, a time to address any regrets. Better late than never!
This first son, regretted not obeying his Dad, so he rectified it – simple.
It can be miserable living in regret: regretting not keeping our mouth shut! Regretting being tight-fisted when we had could have helped. Regretting not giving that compliment. Regretting not being kind to that relative who didn’t deserve any kindness. Regretting not going that ‘somewhere’ when given the chance!
I realize that some regrets are far more serious than in the above list – such as having been unfaithful to a partner, or even perhaps to the Lord Jesus, like Peter denying that he knew the Lord. The elder son in that parable was able to rectify his regret. But Peter couldn’t ‘undo’ his regret. It happened. He did it and had to live with it. But he wept bitter tears and was forgiven, and he made sure to more than make up for it.
If you are unable to rectify certain regrets, a New Year can help you address them, ask forgiveness for them, and learn from them, which is very important because one of the signs of a ‘fool’ in the Bible, is never learning from regrets/mistakes, repeating the same!
If you feel conviction about something, thank the Lord for it! It shows you are still His. It’s when conviction stops is when to worry! When you have regrets, like this son did, it shows you care. It shows you have a spiritual conscience. It shows God is still working on you. Regrets are important, in that they keep us humble and show that we are not perfect, which keeps pride at bay, as pride is God’s big hate in His children.
Anyone who never has any regrets, or anything ever to be sorry for, has to be a narcissist!
God gives new chances, new starts, like He did Peter, and a New Year can be that opportunity.
A Happy Christmas to all my readers.
And a happy non-regrettable New Year!
“Forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I will press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13).
God bless you, Christine.
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