Wednesday evening's Bible class was once again traversed with only two or three empty seats available for growth. Steve took us down a different path, looking at the life of David and focusing on dealing with regret. All present agreed that it would be nigh unto impossible for anyone to not possess it at least to some degree, the real question, therefore, being how to address it, how to survive, overcome, eliminate it. At least several times I heard someone speak of it being a matter of learning how to forgive yourself. Such answer, for me, was beyond my ability to grasp, however, much like eradicating my own sin or developing Christ-like character out of my own strength. Too often, within this faith, I find the general consensus equating our journey in this to something akin to signing up for some self-help course, attempting to improve our humanity much like we might if the concern was some part of our anatomy: exercise burns off calories; work-out beefs up muscles. In my opinion, spiritual problems are better “cured” through the Holy Ghost, surrender, in the sense of laying it all down at His feet and leaning on His presence in the next step, His grace and patience with us in the mess that we are. If effort is involved, let it be in this manner, not in some determined “I-can-do-this” mindset wherein we are only operating much as we did before the Indwelling. In Hebrews we are told that, as believers, we “are not come unto the mount that might not be touched”, but rather “unto Mount Zion”, a connection given us whereby God is made tangible unto us in every need. Let it be known: “regret” is good! Without it, there would be no remorse, no acknowledgement of our failure, no cry to find His grace afresh for our stumble down the path. While change, to some extent, can indeed be instant at times, almost always transformation is a journey, God’s patience with us directed toward our heart. What counts is not my mistakes, but my willingness to give it all to Him…..
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