I suppose all of us can think of many things we have done, then regretted. I was thinking about this and thought I would see how the word was treated in the scriptures. Lo and behold, I could not find the word. So, I thought I would find some other form of the word. Maybe “remorse.” No, not there. “Sorry.” A few times, but fewer still spoke of “regret.” Yes, “sorrow” was found many times, but very seldom with the idea of regret. Maybe we are supposed to live our lives in such a way that we would have no regrets. An anonymous author wrote:
Seven Things You Never Regret
- Feeling reverence for your Maker.
- Showing kindness to an aged person.
- Destroying a letter written in anger.
- Offering the apology that saves a friendship.
- Stopping a scandal that could wreck a friendship.
- Taking time to show loved one’s consideration.
- Accepting the judgment of God on any question!
You may think of other things you would add to this list. And why not? After all, it seems wise to strive to accomplish those things with our lives that leave us without regret — much wiser than living in such a way as to “suffer the consequences later.” Let’s so live that if we should be sorry for our actions, it will be that we “were made sorry unto repentance … sorry after a godly sort” (2 Corinthians 7:9).
Leroy Sedgewick
