Regret

The word means "a feeling of sadness, repentance or disappointment." It comes from Old French, where greter means "to weep," so to "regret" means "to weep again" ... or something like it. Someone recently asked me, "Do you have any regrets?" It turns out it's a harder question than I originally thought.

On the surface, everyone has regrets, from "I shouldn't have eaten the whole cake" to "I shouldn't have married that person." Everyone has them. But the real question was about long-term ... something you continue to regret. And I think it's a complicated answer ... to believers. Do we regret ... sins? If "regret" means "repentance," then we have to. But ... what about long-term? Now it gets sticky. On one hand, we're tempted to think, "If I hadn't done what I wasn't supposed to, or if I had done what I was supposed to, things would have been better." Is that true? I think it's not. Consider some examples. If Joseph's brothers had not sinned, God's plan to save Israel would have failed (Gen 50:20). Yes, their intent was evil ... but God had different ideas. Or take Judas Iscariot. He furthered God's plan for our salvation by betraying Christ. Absolutely necessary, but Jesus said, "For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born" (Mark 14:21). Again, that "both-and" function, where, yes, it was sin and wrong, but it was God's plan. In fact, we all know "that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28), which obviously includes sin.

I believe in a Sovereign God. He does whatever He wants. Everything that occurs does so by His hand or His permission. So, yes, we sin, and it should be regretted, but, we are forgiven (so we don't have to keep regretting it) and He always uses it for good, so there is no need for long-term regret. We can let it go. Which, of course, isn't always easy, is it?