In late 2013, a movie was released titled, “About Time.” I haven’t seen it, but I did see a preview, and I found the premise intriguing. In it, a young man discovers that he can travel in time – he can’t change history, and he doesn’t go back bodily to whatever point he is traveling to, but instead he can relive any moment in his own life and do it differently. In effect, any time he made a mistake or had a regret, he could go back and fix it.
Try to imagine what it would be like to have such an ability. First of all, it wouldn’t matter how risk-averse a person you were, you could take any risk that wouldn’t kill you outright; if it didn’t pay out, you could just go back and try something else. Awkward social moment? Take back that silly thing you said or did, and it’s gone like it never happened. To anyone else, you would appear to be perfect and utterly polished, because they could never see your errors and how you learned from them, only the final result. I can certainly think of one or two choices I’ve made in my life that I would love to go back and re-make.
But it’s a work of fiction, and no one can do-over the errors in their life like that. God is a giver of second, third, and however many chances we need. He will allow us, sometimes, to revisit an issue and make a better choice. He takes away the sting of sin and shame. But He doesn’t let us do things over like they never happened the first time. Which, of course, often leaves us with regrets that linger in the recesses of our hearts, and sometimes torment us with thoughts of might-have-beens. And I’m sure that’s exactly what the writer of that screenplay was thinking: that we all have regrets and would love to have a way to erase them.
One verse that people often fall back on when struggling with something in their life, but outside their control, is Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God’s hand is never shortened (Isaiah 59:1), and His power is complete wherever He chooses to exercise it (Job 42:2). But the concept also applies to mistakes we make, and even outright sins we commit. In Genesis 37:37, 39-50 we can read a perfect example of this. Joseph, the son of Israel, was a favorite of his father, and his brothers were jealous. So they attacked him out in the wilderness, and sold him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt, suffered quite a few trials, but eventually came up on top of them … just in time to be able to save the brothers who sold him, and the rest of his family, from starvation in a famine. To quote Joseph, when he was reconciled with his brothers and his family safe, in Gen 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” They meant evil. Everyone knew it, and Joseph pulled no punches. Yet God turned it into good. And God’s nature never changes; He wants good for His people, and I don’t believe He is ever going to let us mess that up.
Yet people still struggle with regret. The age-old question is, “Yes, but what if I hadn’t sinned? What if I hadn’t done that stupid thing? How much better would things have been?” We often wish we could do it over, like the guy in the movie. But I have to respond to that with another question, “Why waste your time on things you cannot change?” It’s pointless speculation to think that way. We can’t change the past, but God’s purposes will always be accomplished because they depend on Him, not us. Regret is like guilt – it can poison your life if you let it … so don’t let it! God is not baffled about what to do with your mistakes, He can work them out, and He promised He will.
I think the final words on regret are those of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” That’s our proper response to regret. We don’t dwell on our past, we press on. Of course, we cannot blithely continue in sin and error, (Rom. 6:1-14), but we if we make a mistake, we bring it to the Lord, then put it behind us. We must remember, Christ died to give us His righteousness. We do not need to live any part of our lives over again to “get it right,” for our God will make it right, even if we stumble along the way. So let us put all regret and sorrow aside, rejoice in our Savior always, and go on with our lives joyfully. For His grace is greater than all our sin, and regrets.