Before wrapping up our series focusing on Being Spiritual Disrupters, at least temporarily, there’s one more issue I feel compelled to address, and the lyrics of an old song offer a perfect introduction to the subject. It was an international hit recorded by that famous bluegrass singer, Frank Sinatra . . . Okay, I’m just kidding, of course. Frank didn’t do bluegrass, right? For one thing, he didn’t have that classic hillbilly accent shared by the bluegrass greats, but beyond that, he probably couldn’t have hit the high notes anyway. Besides, trying to picture Frank Sinatra in bib overalls belting out “Goin’ Up to Cripple Creek” in a Las Vegas nightclub just hurts my head. 

A Surprising Conclusion ~
Anyway, the song I’m thinking about is his iconic hit, “I Did It My Way.” As you might remember, the song’s lyrics picture someone contemplating death and offering a comprehensive evaluation of his life. In this case, the only relevant consideration in the process was not the nature or outcome of the challenges he faced, but whether or not he did things his way. The ultimate conclusion was that he always pretty much ran the show and was quite proud of it. But aside from all that, there’s one line in this “Ode to Arrogance” that arrests my attention and provides an appropriate introduction to today’s subject. It’s the verse where the singer declares, “Regrets, I’ve had a few, But then again too few to mention.” 

 When I first heard that line, I thought, “A few! Are you kidding me?!” Even back then, I had already accumulated more regrets than you could pack in a moving van. But the thing about regrets that we need to consider is not how many we have. The more concerning issues are their potential impact, especially in the spiritual realm, and what to do about them. 

Distinctive Differences ~
It’s important to recognize at the outset, that from a Scriptural point of view, the concepts of regret and repentance share some similarities, but they have very distinctive differences. Both involve choices and actions that result in reactions like, sorrow, sadness, grief, embarrassment, rage, or self-condemnation. The difference, of course, is how we respond to them. The mental and emotional distress that accompanies regret and those that lead to repentance may be similar, but the responses and the outcomes are distinctly different. The Apostle Paul illustrated that distinction in his second epistle to the church in Corinth. As he addressed their handling of a significant sin issue in their fellowship, he said: 

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:9–10 NKJV)

Regrets are endemic to our fallen human condition, and because of the sin nature we all share, they are virtually unavoidable. And as we might expect, because our regrets are almost always associated with sinful behavior that results in some kind of distress, the devil loves them. He constantly promotes ways for us to generate new ones and to refresh and perpetuate the collection we already have. 

Entrenched Reminders ~
Thankfully, most of our regrets grow out of relatively minor transgressions and don’t turn into lifelong struggles. But then there are those that become entrenched reminders of the worst things we ever did. They are the ones the devil uses to drag the past into the present and sabotage the future. Because our worst regrets are capable of regenerating intense feelings of shame and self-condemnation, they are the ones that we work the hardest to keep hidden. The problem is that even if our dark secrets aren’t exposed, their power to affect our lives isn’t necessarily disarmed. Even regrets that no one else sees can become a lens that colors how we view ourselves and continues to affect us in many ways. Here are a few examples: 

• • They can magnify our insecurities and multiply fear and anxiety by invoking recurrent questions, like, “What if people find out?” or, “Can God really love someone like me?” 
  • Regrets can generate self-directed accusations of hypocrisy and promote a judgmental attitude toward others.
  • Regrets can foster reinterpreting other unrelated difficulties in life as delayed punishment from God.
  • Self-doubts rooted in regrets can become obstacles when opportunities arise, whether it’s to serve God or to pursue advancement in other ways.
  • Underlying feelings of doubt and uncertainty become hindrances to pursuing an interactive personal relationship with God. 
  • An inordinate focus on personal failures and regrets can monopolize prayer time and keep our minds and hearts away from more significant issues.

Unresolved regrets are like weights strapped onto a runner. They slow us down. limit our movement, bleed off our strength, and sap our endurance. Unresolved regrets make losers out of winners. They are what Paul called the sorrow of the world, and he said that it produces death, and that concerns all of us right now. The spiritual warfare in this country is no longer conducted behind-the-scenes. It is open, undisguised, and unrelenting. 

Time to Push Back ~
At a time when we desperately need courage, we cannot afford to let regrets make cowards of us.  We need mountain-moving faith, and we must not let regrets assassinate our confidence in God’s promises. Regrets will inject toxic poison into our willingness to display countercultural love, joy, and peace. God put us here for just this point in time and every one of us needs to heed the admonition from the writer of Hebrews:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1 NKJV)

If regrets are one of those weights, how do we lay them aside? We may hate some things we did, but we can’t go back and undo them. They are frozen in time and an indelible part of our lives, so how do we disrupt their power and free ourselves from their influence? As we might expect, the answer comes from the only One who isn’t subject to the constraints of clocks and calendars. God has a better idea than altering the events of the past. Instead, He chooses to eradicate the power of the past by creating a whole new beginning. Paul described it like this: 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

Here’s how that works and some ways to build on the new life God gives.

• • Accept God’s Forgiveness. Accepting God’s forgiveness means believing that it is real, permanent, and that it is based solely on Jesus’ sacrifice and not dependent on our performance. When we confess our sinful behavior and bring our ragged, painful wounds to Jesus He turns them into scars. The original cause is still there, but, because of His forgiveness, it should no longer hurt to touch that part of our life. 
  • Avoid the Quicksand. Revisiting the past and recalling what God has forgiven can either be a step into spiritual quicksand or a springboard for praise that enriches and empowers our future. Which one it turns out to be is our choice. If we feel the memories sucking us in, it’s time to do like Peter when he began to sink (Matthew 14:22-33). All it takes is a cry for help to turn things around.
  • Apply the Gifts. The new life comes with some powerful gifts, and the more we allow the Spirit of God to activate them in our lives, the weaker any lingering influence of those past transgressions becomes.

Those regrets that caused us so much pain can serve as keys to compassion. When we see others suffering the same kind of torture we once endured, God’s love rolls up its sleeve and goes to work. The fear of discovery that once plagued us gets replaced by a passion for deliverance that can change the world.
_______________________

Explore the entire Spiritual Disrupter Series by checking out these additional related posts:

In Need of Spiritual Disrupters,
Disrupting Foolishness,
Disrupting Fatherlessness, and
Disrupting Complacency

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter.

• • “Unresolved regrets are like weights strapped on runners. They slow us down. limit movement, bleed off strength & sap our endurance. Unresolved regrets make losers out of winners. The spiritual warfare in this country now has become open, undisguised, unrelenting.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • “At a time when we desperately need courage, we can’t afford to let regrets make cowards of us.  We mustn’t let regrets assassinate our confidence in God’s promises. Regrets will inject toxic poison into our willingness to display countercultural love, joy, and peace.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
  • “When we confess our sinful behavior and bring our ragged, painful wounds to Jesus, He turns them into scars. The original cause is still there, but, because of His forgiveness, it should no longer hurt to touch that part of our life.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
  • “Revisiting the past, recalling what God has forgiven can either step uw into spiritual quicksand or a springboard for praise to enrich & empower our future. When memories suck us in, it’s time to cry for help to turn things @ like Peter did when he began to sink.”@GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • “New life comes with some powerful gifts, and the more we allow the Spirit of God to activate them in our lives, the weaker any lingering influence of past transgressions becomes.” @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

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