REGRET: And a Dog, a Horse and a Cartਨਮੂਨਾ

A croaky voice calls through the moonlit night, “Hello the fire!” I shush my dog’s barking and answer back. “Billy’s on!” The traveller approaches, age in his shoulders and clothes. “Obliged. Name’s Moke.” He drops his heavy swag to the ground with relief. “’Preciate yer fire and restin’ from this burden.”

Regret is a heavy weight, day in, day out, mile after mile. Carrying a faulty conscience on top of it increases the load.

Our conscience (internal warning system) is a gift from God. He wrote His law on every heart and then gave us a conscience to discern right from wrong based on His law (Romans 2:15). For our conscience to work as God designed, we must guard what influences our mindset. History is littered with people who did evil because they thought wrongly. Saul (the Apostle Paul) was one of them. Convinced he was doing the right thing, he acted against God.

Our conscience bows to whatever we give the highest place in our hearts. If Jesus is Lord, our conscience will be sensitive to Him, leading us in His good, perfect and pleasing will and a life of assurance and peace (Romans 12:1-2). If something or someone other than Jesus takes the throne, our conscience will weaken. Tragically, given the wrong influences, it may even lose all sensitivity (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

Is your conscience always magnifying your regrets? Consider this: If you aren’t guilty of deliberate sin, but you take responsibility as though you are, you’re allowing your conscience to accuse you wrongly. The devil or a poorly trained conscience will make mirages out of a mountain that isn’t there.

Here’s the flipside: If we do sin, then yes, we should feel guilt biting us. BUT, when we repent, God hurls the mountain of guilt and regret into the ocean and out of His sight (Luke 7:48). We turn away from wrong and bear fruit in keeping with repentance; our conscience is clear, our lives clean (Matthew 3:8).

You and I both have irreparable yesterdays. Here’s our choice: Let them bury us with anxiety, or let them produce humility and productive thoughtfulness in us as we accept forgiveness. Jesus’ heart is so willing to restore you—He doesn’t want to leave you unrestored! You, me, Peter, Paul, the adulterous person—after we have turned back, we can use our experiences to strengthen our brothers and sisters. We can finish well, with no regrets (Luke 22:32; 2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Whatever it is you’re doing to block out the rooster’s crow, come away from it. There’s no solution there. Reach out to mature others for prayer and support.

The morning wind blows cold off the mountain behind us. My visitor inches closer to the fire, and I notice both shoes gaping open, revealing dirt-black toes. I fill our mugs. “What’s say we mend your shoes, Moke?” He warms roughened hands around his pannikin and breathes out a contented sigh. “Obliged. Might just lighten this swag a bit, too. It’d sure make for an easier trail ahead.”

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16