Regret. We’ve all experienced it. There were the times our choices were not what they should have been. There were paths that didn’t lead where we thought they would go. There have been words that hurt others deeply. Our regret over such things can weigh heavily at times.
Yet we have a God who says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18-19). His “new thing” in you started the moment you became a Christian:
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB
Now, God is eager to work out His life, the new creation, in you. He doesn’t want you stuck in the past.
Whether it was 30 years ago or yesterday, what you did or what you were is not who you are. You are a child of God. He has redeemed you. He desires to transform you. It is for freedom that He has set you free.
The Apostle Paul, a man who easily could have been paralyzed with regret, chose to move forward: “Forgetting what’s behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.” What was his goal? Paul wanted to know Christ. As we walk more closely with Jesus, His holy life grows in us. His life frees us to let go of the past.
Is there a regret you need to let go of?
Will you believe, on the authority of God’s Word, that you are a new creation? God said the old person has gone, a new person has come. In Christ, you are free indeed!