We all have regrets, according to Dr. Richard Kinnier of Arizona State Univ. The most common regret was not being a better student, not studying more. Other common regrets include not being more assertive, not having more self-discipline, not taking more risks, not spending quality time with families. One surprise showed up: money appears to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Dr. Merrill Douglass, Homemade, April, 1990.
Common examples of regrets
* Relationships – Broken relationships with children or family
* Divorce – Death of a relationship
* Sinful behaviors
* Mistakes that haunt us
* Poor choices for career and lost opportunities
* Not following the direction of God
"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." -- 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV)
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4
You have died to sin
The penalty of sin is death. Jesus died on the cross as the ultimate act of grace to pay the penalty of sin. The sin that plagued your past has been forgiven by Christ. The moment that you confessed, it was nailed to the cross and removed from your life.
Why do so many people struggle with their past?
Many people cannot seem to move beyond their past. The main problem is that they are so focused on the things of earth that they have forgotten the view of eternity. Many get themselves wrapped up in things that draw their attention away from the things of God. Too many people allow their past to hold them back.
You are a product of your past but you do not have to be a prisoner of your past – Rick Warren
The past is washed away in the cleansing flood of redemption through the blood of Jesus. The past is forgiven and forgotten when it is confessed. God no longer holds our wrongs against us. The past no longer has power over our lives. When we allow the past to continue to control the way we live, we are ignoring the promise and the power of Christ. Jesus promised that we would be given a new life because the old life was crucified to the cross with Him. The old life was buried with Christ and the new life is symbolized in the reality of an empty tomb.
The old life is everything that comprised our lives prior to finding Christ. It is everything that led us down a path of death and destruction. The old life was corrupted by the reality of sin. Sin is doing those things you know are wrong. It is missing the mark or missing the target. In essence, sin is living off the target of God’s standards. We fall short of God’s standard for living and are in a desperate need of grace.
When Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross to pay the price for sin, He gave Himself for three key reasons of grace.
1.) Jesus mended the broken relationship between God and humanity
2.) Jesus provided the needed resolution with God
3.) Jesus removed the separation that sin created – He bridged the gap
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
As Jesus hung on the cross, He nailed our old life there with Him. The life we knew before Jesus is dead. The moment we chose to accept Christ, the old existence felt the hammer’s swing. The moment Jesus exchanged His life for ours, our old life found itself hanging on the cross. The old life that was corrupted by sin, died with Jesus on the cross. The old life bound for death and destruction was buried with Jesus. The life of sin died with Jesus and was buried with Jesus. The old life is never meant to make a come back.
If the old life died on the cross with Christ, why are you so worried about it? If the old life died on the cross with Christ, why do you let it continue to control you? If the old life died on the cross with Christ, why do you let it hurt you?
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! Horatio G. Spafford
The old life is dead and has no hold on us any longer
The old life is dead and has no power to hurt us again
The old life is dead and has completely lost its sting
There is no more worry about the past because it died with Jesus. There is no more guilt to carry and no more shame to bear because the old life is gone. We will never see it again.
We have been raised with Christ
The moment that Jesus was raised from the dead we were granted a new life. We were given the open door of eternity. The old life that had us bound for death and destruction died. The moment that Jesus was raised from the dead, death itself was defeated. The new life replaces the old life and we can be certain of it. Jesus promised that whoever believes in Him would never die.
We have a responsibility to Christ
Set your hearts on things above
The meaning of set was to seek something with the desire to possess it. The moment that we set ourselves to a task, we do not stop until we have it completed. Paul calls for the heart to be set on things above. The heart was viewed as the center of the person. The heart was the core of the whole person. There was nothing more important than the heart and if God had your heart, He had your whole being. Paul is saying that we need to pursue the values of heaven with our whole being. We need to be pursuing those things that matter most to God with everything we’ve got.
When we let the past hold us in its prison, we cannot move forward for God. The reality is that until we set ourselves on the values of Christ’s Kingdom, we cannot break free of the past. Jesus died to set us free from the past so we could live for an eternal future. Jesus died so we could have the opportunity to get our lives focused on what really matters to God.
Set your minds on things above
Paul then adds that we need to set our minds on things above. Paul is calling for us to center our entire being on the eternal values of God. Now Paul says that we need to focus our minds there as well. Paul is saying that it is not enough for us to focus our whole being on Christ’s Kingdom. We must put on concentration, our thoughts and our focus on the things of God. The only way that we can live a life that is empowered by the Spirit is to keep concentrating our mind on what is eternal.
This is the same phrase that Jesus uses when He speaks to Peter about the crucifixion. Peter rebukes Jesus for saying that He was going die. He told Peter that his mind was not set on God’s plan. The problem is that our minds will focus on the wrong things unless we are continually focusing them on the right things.
Jesus loves you in your brokenness
Submission to the Lordship of Christ – We give our lives over to the Lordship of Jesus.
Every person is broken in some manner. We all carry our brokenness like dead weight that slows us down and holds us back. Stop living in the prison of the past and embrace the freedom that Jesus desires for you.
Jesus desires to mend our brokenness
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds Psalm 147:3
Jesus wants to use those things that have broken your heart for His glory. He wants to bind up those wounds. Jesus mends the brokenhearted so they can set their hearts on things above. Jesus comes and brings healing to the hurts and peace to the pain to give us an eternal perspective on life.
How do we handle the pain of the past?
1. Admit that there is pain
2. Ask for God’s help
3. Allow the Holy Spirit to mend your heart
There is absolutely nothing that can be done to change the past. There is nothing that can be done about previous actions and previous words. Today can be a new day. Today can be the day where healing begins.
