Faith Through the Journey

At the end of last night’s television coverage of the Olympics, I watched an interview with Michael Phelps. He’s a remarkable athlete, the most decorated ever in Olympic history with 22 medals, 18 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. He was emphatic in stating that he was definitely done competing in the sport of swimming. He also made the statement that he had accomplished every goal he had ever set for himself and that he could truly walk away from the sport with no regrets.

That’s an incredible statement! I’m sure there must be something in his life that he regrets, but as far as his swimming career there are none. Unfortunately, there are way too many things I have done or said that I now regret, and I think the saddest words in the English language are “if only…”. I’m sure I’m not the only human on earth that has something that they regret saying or doing. If I can change those things, I do everything in my power to go back and “fix” whatever it may be that I said or did and now realize that it was wrong or that I could have done better.

But what about the things we can no longer change? A situation has changed or a person is no longer alive in order to make things right? Honestly, there is no human way to deal with the regrets and “if onlys” that can never be made right. The only answer to the guilt that can accompany regret is the forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can give, through His sacrifice and His blood that was shed to forgive our sins. If we do not accept the forgiveness that He gives, we can go through life weighed down by a load of guilt that will eventually crush us and make us bitter and angry. Once we have taken care of our sin of guilt and regret, how do we then go forward to live a life relatively free from regret?

Micah 6:8 tells us what God’s requirements are for our lives: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” If that is what God requires of us, should we require more of ourselves? If we do each of these things to the best of our ability and with the help of God Himself through the power of His Spirit within us,God expects nothing more from us. And if we are doing this, we can live without regrets!