Starting today, I will be posting a reflection on the message from the worship service at Connexion, our new church.  Here we go…

Today, Jason H., our Lead Minister, spoke in our new series, “ONE.”  With this series, we are focusing on relationships.  First, our relationship with God and then how that relationship impacts all our other relationships.  His message this morning was “ONE Life.”  This message was all about regrets.  We all have them.  We all have to decide what we are going to do about them and with them.

Jason said, “Those who say they have no regrets, are either liars or in denial.”
We all have regrets, yet some of us deal with regrets by pretending they don’t exist.  We say things like, “I don’t regret a single minute of my life.”  I wish that were true.

I really liked Jason’s emphasis on the fact that God only gives us one life.  He also used the analogy of a video game.  Some of us live our lives like we just have unlimited do-overs like in a video game.  We don’t have to deal with the consequences of our actions or live a certain way, there will just be another life. There was a story on the news a few months ago about a little boy who lived in Indianapolis who wanted to visit his older brother at school that day.  He decided that driving his grandma’s car was just like playing Xbox and grabbed the keys, jumped in and started driving the car toward his brother’s school.  After a few close calls and fender-benders, the boy was surrounded by cars driven by concerned motorists who realized that is was a little boy driving the car.  The little boy really thought driving a real car was like playing a racing game on Xbox.  It didn’t matter if you crashed, you would just get another chance.

Jason also used the analogy of the game of golf.  He asked the question, “Do you do life like a ‘grip it and rip it’ tee shot?”
He was making the point that we can’t live life just by the seat of your pants.  To be successful in life you have to be able to manage your regret.

We have to manage our meltdowns: That is, the attitude of “I’ve already blown it, it doesn’t matter what I do anymore,” cannot be how we live here and now on the backside of regrets.

Our example this morning came from the life of Paul…

Philippians 3:12-14 says,
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Paul’s secret – focus on whats ahead, not on what’s behind.  Where is your focus?
In golf, it is best to focus on the one shot in front of you.  What is your next right step?

Philippians 3:18-20 says,
For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

Our focus should be on Christ.

Two practical ways to deal with regret:
1. Allow God’s grace to move you on from where you are to where He wants you to be.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10:
For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. 10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

Jason shared a personal story of regret that really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.  When Jason was about eleven, he asked his younger sister to help him deliver papers on his paper route.  He wasn’t feeling very well and was tired.  That morning, while delivering papers, Jason’s sister was hit by a car on her bike and was killed.  I can’t imagine having to dealing with that huge loss as a child.  What’s the point?  Jason said, “Take your regret and add God’s grace and move on from there.”

2. Allow God’s forgiveness to heal you and produce an eagerness to do good.

2 Corinthians 7:10-11:

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 11 Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

He ended the message with something we all need to hear…Our God is a God of mulligans, of “do-overs.”