Living Life Without Regret

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  1 Peter 5:8 NASB

In John 10:10, Jesus contrasts His purpose for coming to earth with that of His adversary, the devil, whom He refers to as the thief.  Here he says, “The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

One thing that I know to be true about regret is that it definitely steals life away from us.  There are those who walk among us whose whole lives have been wrecked by one bad decision that has left them with a lifetime of regret.  Can I tell you that God does not want this to be the case for His children?  Jesus himself came to give us life abundant, and that means life without regret.

So we pose our four questions one last time:

·      What story do I want to tell? Thinking about the decision from a future perspective.

·      Am I being completely honest with myself?  Recognizing the deceitfulness of the heart.

·      Is there a tension that needs my attention? Looking out for the red flags, or quickened spirit.

·      What will bring the most honor to God? Giving God the honor He is due through our lives.

If you are a person who struggles with this, I would encourage you to write these down somewhere, and keep them handy.  You never know when you might use one or more to arrive at a conclusion that may have alluded you before.  Remember, there is no magic here.  All we are doing is using the truth of Scripture, along with the work of the Spirit, to bring our hearts and minds in alignment with our Heavenly Father’s desires for us.  Once this alignment is reached, you will experience what the Apostle Paul referred to as “peace that surpasses all understanding.” Philippians 4:7.

This exercise will require practice.  It’s not something you do once and you just have it down.  It will require the discipline to go back to the questions over and over, until it becomes part of who we are.

If it helps, rewrite them in your own words.  Maybe the language above doesn’t resonate with you.  If not, use the words that you understand.  The point is that we take the time to process the decision and not just go by what feels right at the moment.  This kind of thinking will always lead to poor decisions and regret.

Finally, use these questions to help your kids with their decision making skills.  Oh how I wish I had had this template as a teenager, and even a young adult.  It would have been so helpful to have some sort of grid to process decisions in each of those arenas of life that I entered into for the first time.  If you can equip your kids with these skills, you will do them one of the biggest favors ever!

My prayer for you is that the Lord will give you favor in all that you do, and as He does, you will seek to honor Him with your decisions, and your life.  Amen. 

Scripture to Claim:
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart..”  (Psalm 37:4, NASB)

Submitted By Keith Warren