God invites us to go beyond our regrets and allow Him to redeem every area of our lives. Pastor Dave Ferguson speaks to the importance of not placing our regrets on a pedestal.
“Sometimes we let our regrets become almost an idol. If we allow that to be a greater force in our life than God, who says we are already forgiven we just have to receive it, we’re almost bowing down at the idol of our own regrets, more than we are bowing down before God who says, ‘I want to forgive you, I want to release you from this, and I want you to move on because I want to redeem this for great good.’
Regret keeps us in the cycle of unforgiveness, and prevents us from experiencing our true identity in Christ.
“We beat ourselves up over and over again about certain situations and God is simply not doing that; He’s not doing that. Our identity ought to be more about who He says we are, than who we think we are.”
To move past regret, we need to forgive ourselves. We also need to forgive others, especially if something was said or done to us that was out of our control. Pastor Ferguson explains how God desires to release us from these situations and set us free from the bondage of our past.
“In some ways, I think our initial reaction is ‘why didn’t God step in and do something?’ It creates a tremendous theological conundrum for us, but if we will deal with these things particularly not on our own, but with other people, I think that’s where we begin to see the goodness of God; how God is actually working to get us through these situations.”
“We happened to be born into a fallen world where everyone has a free will, and some of those use it for great evil. If we can come to grips with that, God can redeem even the most painful situations.”
Dave Ferguson is an award-winning author, founding and lead pastor of Chicago’s Community Christian Church, a missional multi-site community considered one of the most influential churches in America.
Living life without regret
