Releasing Regret

Written by Rick Warren

Are you hanging on to your regrets? Talk to a mentor about that.

“People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13 (NLT).

How often do you play the “if only” game?

• If only I had it to do over.

• If only I had listened sooner.

• If only I could erase the past.

• If only I could forgive myself.

Because no one is perfect, we all have regrets. We’ve all made bad choices, said foolish things, wasted time, and hurt ourselves and others.

How do you release those regrets?

Here are some strategies that don’t work:

1. We bury them. Burying the past doesn’t work. Like creatures from a horror movie, unresolved regrets come back to haunt us over and over. Minimizing (“It wasn’t a big deal”), rationalizing (“Everyone does it”), and compromising (lowering your standards) are ways we try to bury our regrets.

2. We blame others. This tactic is as old as Adam and Eve. When Adam sinned, he took it like a man – he blamed his wife! We use blame to balance out our guilt.

3. We beat ourselves. We try to pay for our guilt unconsciously through illness, depression, setting ourselves up for failure, and other forms of self-punishment. The problem with beating up on yourself is this: your conscience never knows when to stop! Many spend their entire lives in self-condemnation.

What does God want me to do with my regrets?

• Admit my guilt. Own up to it. Don’t make excuses. The Bible says, “People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13 NLT).

• Accept Christ’s forgiveness. He’s waiting to clean your slate. Ask him to clear your conscience, and then remember “there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT).

• Forgive yourself and focus on the future. “Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19 HCSB).

Questions: Are there things from your past that you need to let go of? That you need to hand over to God? Try the steps given above for getting over your regrets.

About this Author Rick Warren

Tags: blame, bury, Devotional, excuses, failure, forgive, forgiveness, future, guilt, past, regrets, Rick Warren, self-punishment, Women

2 Responses to “Releasing Regret”

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Barbara says:

December 30, 2010 at 9:58 am

This devotional is the perfect way to close the year and begin the New Year that is about to take place…Thank you Rick for this simple YET powerful devotional….ii is all so very true for I have put it into practice in my own life…some things I have been able to hand over to God and have been freed from them other things took good, godly counsel to overcome, and other items only took a few dear close friends to see me through to accountabilty with dealing with poor behaviors and sin (my best friend othe than the Lord is my husband)….
Arlette says:

December 30, 2010 at 7:15 am

WOW. Like it was written all for me. Thank you so much. God bless you.