I recently had a conversation with a woman who expressed regret over how she had parented her daughter. Mothers or not, we all have regrets. We are sinners, who, although "made anew by an unseen power of grace," (The Valley of Vision, "Man A Nothing") still await glorification in heaven some day. Maybe our regrets are mild and nagging, or perhaps they overwhelm our everyday thoughts and stymie our progress in godliness.
Whenever I am tempted to wallow in regret over a mistake, an unwise decision, a sinful comment, I have often found encouragement in these thoughts from Charles Spurgeon:
“What is the use of regret unless we can rise by it to a better future? Sighs, which do not raise us higher, are an ill use of vital breath. Chasten yourselves, but be not discouraged. Gather up the arrows which aforetime fell wide of the mark, not to break them in passionate despair, but to send them to the target with direct aim, and a more concentrated force. Weave victories out of defeats. Learn success from failure, wisdom from blundering” (Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership by Steve Miller, p. 93)
Let’s get off our mental couch of despair over past sins and mistakes. Let us not be like the one the apostle Peter describes as “so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (1 Peter 1:9) By the power of Christ, let’s be all the more diligent to make our calling and election sure (v. 10). Let’s weave victories out of defeat.
