REGRET: And a Dog, a Horse and a CartSample

Lengthening shadows signal time to pull the wagon off track and make camp. Unharnessed, my mare grazes contentedly. The dog jumps ecstatically into tea-tree-stained waterholes. The smell of simmering stew is as good as a whistle to call him back. A snake slithers past the wagon. Bush snakes don’t go looking for trouble, but they can act with impressive speed if riled.

The serpent who showed up in the Garden of Eden was out looking for trouble. Pure evil, nothing about Satan has changed to this day. One of his specialties is condemning Christians. Piling it on for the things we’ve done wrong, robbing us of joy, peace, and a fruit-bearing life for God (John 10:10). If Satan can bog you down in regrets, he will mess with the way you approach life and the influence you bring to relationships. People who live free from regret can think and act creatively and love freely. This freedom is ours.

Like a heeler dog, Satan will relentlessly nip your heels if you look like coming to rest on a clear conscience. In the event of a dog attack, running away is the worst thing you can do. Running triggers a dog’s predatory instinct to chase. Drawing a spiritual parallel, James 4:7-8 shows us how to stand our ground and get the devil running from us: “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you.” Facing versus running from your regrets means drawing close to the One who knows it all … knows all about you … knows everything you have or haven’t done. Keep it straight in your mind who your real condemner is.

Remember when the religious types caught a woman in the act of adultery and dragged her before Jesus? Whatever Jesus wrote in the dirt convicted the accusers of their personal sins, and when our Lord said,“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” they all peeled off until none were left. Jesus asked the woman, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:1-11). Was she guilty? Yes. Was she condemned by Jesus? No! And, neither are you (Romans 8:1).

All that’s broken in your heart, all that you’ve ever been ashamed of, all you wish you could undo, Jesus took on Himself because He loves you. He paid your ‘regret debt’, and He reaches out to you today, to heal and fill you with hope.

Unrolling my swag under my favourite stars to the crescendo of cicadas, I imagine the fish I’ll hook in the creek for breakfast. My thoughts turn to Jesus’ disciple Peter on that day when his regrets chased him back out to fish.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10.