Regrets Are Inevitable

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
—Psalm 103:14

As we continue to learn how to live without regrets, I will give you several practical insights about regrets in life that will help you in the future.

We need to understand that regrets are inevitable. Everybody is going to have regrets, because everybody makes mistakes. My daughter Julia used to watch a children’s television show in which a certain character had a catchphrase. Anytime he would do something wrong, he would say, “Everybody makes mistakes.” I remember several times confronting Julia over some misbehavior when she was young, and she would say, “Well, Dad, everybody makes mistakes.” She was right–we all do make mistakes.

I once read about some of the biggest mistakes in history. For example, think about the executive who introduced New Coke to the world in 1980. Or the creative geniuses at Decca Records who declined to sign a group called The Beatles to a long-term contract. Think about the numerous movie studios that refused to sign a new writer and director for a movie called “Star Wars.” Or the company that produced an automobile called the Edsel. Stephen Pile recounted all of these mistakes in a book called “The Incomplete Book of Failures.” When that book was published, two pages were accidentally missing from the book. Everybody makes mistakes, even those who write books about mistakes.

Why is it that regrets are inevitable? Why do we make mistakes in life? Because you and I are giant lumps of clay. In Genesis 2:7, Moses writes, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” That word “formed” is a word that refers to a lump of clay that is put on a potter’s wheel, and the potter molds it. That is what God did for us. You know, when you think about it, our physical bodies are nothing more than a collection of dust and chemicals. But we are also more than that, because into that lump of clay God breathed the breath of life into every one of us. The Bible says God understands our human weakness. The psalmist says, “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14). The fact that we are simply dust means that we are going to make mistakes. Regrets in life are inevitable because of who we are.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living above the Could-Haves, Would-Haves, Should-Haves” ” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.