TEXT: Malachi 2:13
TITLE: REGRETS & DECISIONS
(Graduation 2000)
Barry Levinson, a famous Hollywood director, took a chance many of his colleagues passed up. They thought the script about an autistic middle-aged man and his younger brother was too much of a drag for sophisticated American audiences. Levinson saw potential, thought. He liked the interaction between the brothers. With the able assistance of actors Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, Levinson crafted a beautiful tale of humor and drama. Hoffman’s classic depiction of Raymond Babbitt won him an Academy Award. The film Rain Man went on to gross over five hundred million dollars. Talk about regrets! I’m sure there was a handful of directors and producers who wish they had that script back.
Some time ago, MGM executive Irving Thalberg told Louis B. Mayer, “No Civil War picture ever made a nickel.” One “Gone With the Wind later proved him wrong.
John Greenleaf whittler, one of our most astute poets, wrote: “For of all the sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’” That’s what regret is all about. The world is full of people who regret having thoughtlessly chosen (decided wrongly) the wrong path. Life is a series of forks in the road; it is a series of decisions, some more important than others, of course. But the choices are up to us. And the consequences of those choices belong to us also.
Like it or not you are faced with decisions everyday. They come in all shapes and sizes:
*How do you want your eggs?
*Should I wear a jacket today?
*What do I want out of life?
*Who should I vote for?
*Should I get married?
*Do we want Children?
*Do I want ice cream?
*Vanilla or chocolate?
*Should I go on to college?
*Should I take this job or not?
So many decisions, we sometimes feel like we are on a merry-go-round. Our head is spinning with decisions. Now that you have reached a milestone by graduating you have even more decisions to make.
For you that are graduating from high school your decisions become very important. You now enter into a new realm; your parents won’t be making most of your decisions now.
You that have graduated from higher institutions of learning must now decide what you are going to do with your higher education, how you can best put to use what you have learned.
What you need to be concerned about is to be careful about your decisions so that you want have a life full of regrets. You don’t want a life of unhappiness because of the decisions you have made.
Let me hasten on to say that I don’t know one person who hasn’t made at least one blunder that resulted in personal regret. Each of us can look back on an event we’d like to do over. That is just a part of being human.
Even Bible heroes made some bad decisions that resulted in regret. The apostle Paul had painful memories of watching Stephen crumple beneath the vicious stoning that took his life. It was Paul—as Saul the persecutor—who had held the killers’ coats. Though he was later a magnificent servant of Jesus Christ, he often recalled his former days as a tormentor of Christians.
There are many others: Sarah who laughed at God’s promises. What about Elijah who defeated the prophets of Baal and then decided to run from Jezebel. Then there is King David, who committed adultery with Bathsheba, that was a bad decision and then he made another one when he had her husband killed. Remember Lot who wasted precious years living in Sodom. And what about Peter, who denied the Savior at the hour of his crucifixion. The line of regretters goes back to Adam, who disobeyed the one simple command God gave him.
Malachi observed the agony of regret, the absolute remorse of an entire people who had lost their way. His words have a familiar ring to all us travelers who walk the road of grace in a broken world: (read text). There’s no pain so intense as feeling God’s disappointment and of wishing you could turn back the clock. Here are some truths that will help you in making decisions and in having fewer regrets:
Seek God’s Will. Proverbs 3:5,6 – “(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding: (6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Solomon said, “Acknowledge Him [the Lord].” That doesn’t mean give him an afterthought. Nor does it mean pretend to ask his opinion. “With all your heart” ought to give you a keen insight into Solomon’s instructions.
The greatest resource available to those in the valley of decision is the Lord.
Decisions need the counsel of prayer. Sounds old-fashioned doesn’t it? It’s still the way we communicate with God. Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Jesus was saying, “If you disciples need directions through the twisted roads of life, ask me, I know the way.”
All of my worst choices have one thing in common: lack of prayer! Our most regrettable decisions usually are from disobedience. You will never regret taking time to pray before you decide.
Decisions need the counsel of the Word. Psalm 37:23 – “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.”
If you have any doubt about the decision you are about you make see what God’s Word has to say, but check it out first not after the decision.
Psalm 119:11 – “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:133 should be our prayer, “Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.”
Decisions Need The Counsel Of Wise People. Listen to the counsel of godly friends. In Exodus 18:19 Moses listened to the wise counsel of his father-in-law and it helped him bear the load he was under.
Proverbs 1:5 – “A wise man {woman} will hear and increase learning. And a man {woman} of understanding will attain wise counsel.”
Proverbs 12:15 – “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.”
Proverbs 19:20 – “Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in you latter days.”
Decisions Must Not Seek The Counsel Of Feelings. Tranquil and calm today, tossed and driven tomorrow, feelings are as unsteady as the sea. The world is run by people “who don’t feel like it”; and pain is brought to many “who felt like they were doing the right thing.
Galatians 3:11 – “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.”
When Jesus prayed in the garden, knowing that the “cup” of mankind’s sin was to be his drink, he prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). “Not as I will” waves goodbye to feelings.
It isn’t wrong to make our feelings known to God. Just be determined to accept His will as your decision. Jesus obeyed God contrary to His human feelings.
Before A Decision Is Made, Check The Door. Paul wanted to go certain places to preach, but the doors closed. Then, a door opened to go to Macedonia. Warning: picking locks or kicking down doors is not God’s will. If the decision is open and free, enter with peace. If it is closed and uncertain, turn away with peace.
Wise Decision Making Has Learned To Wait On The Lord. Like children we are prone to run wildly ahead of our Father. He calls out to us as we run merrily through the lights of life’s carnivals, “Wait!” Isaiah pours new energy into the exhausted hearts of hasty people run dry from sprinting through life’s corridors without pit stops.
“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Let me close with these thoughts. Wrong paths can be changed. It’s not as easy as snapping your fingers and Poof! All is well, but praise God for second chances. When the prodigal grew homesick, he knew the way back, though the trip was long and the hills high. Many miles rolled beneath his feet before he felt his father’s kiss. Paul said that it was wrong for Christians to sin just to see grace abound (Romans 6:1). And yet, because grace does abound, we can repent, receive forgiveness, and make a fresh start. Be careful, however, not to develop the attitude that it’s easy to file for spiritual bankruptcy and start over. If you do too much of that, you won’t have much to show for your life—and bad habits are mighty tough to break.
