Daily life gives us plenty of opportunities to make choices, and sometimes we make the wrong ones. If we only relied on ourselves, we’d be in bad shape. We constantly face decisions that are big and life-changing or seemingly small and insignificant. But since even those “small and insignificant” things can impact our lives negatively, depending on God’s grace makes it all work out for good.

We do our best, but there are bound to be aspects of every situation that we don’t see until it’s too late. Realistically, we know that everyone makes mistakes, and what may seem like a good idea at the time may come back to haunt us months or even years later. The results may not be catastrophic, yet we’ve all had those types of “I could kick myself for that” regrets.

The good news is that God doesn’t want us to condemn ourselves for mistakes He knew we’d make. Even when we sense Him warning us in advance and we ignore His voice, He still forgives us for all the silly things we do. The best thing to do is forgive ourselves, chalk it up to a learning experience, and move on. Honestly admitting our mistakes to Him frees us from any shame from what we did or didn’t do in the past.

Letting grace influence our decisions can make a radical difference in avoiding future regrets in life. From God’s perspective, He can see things we can’t and He only wants good for us.He’s looking for any opportunity we give Him to shower abundant favor on us. The next time we face a decision, listening to Him puts us in a win-win situation, regardless of the way it seems at the moment.

Prayer:

Lord, You knew all the mistakes we would ever make before we were even born, yet You still love us. When we make bad decisions,You’ve already forgiven us; therefore, we can forgive ourselves. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Romans 8:28

Proverbs 14:12

John 3:17

1 John 1:9

Jeremiah 29:11

For more on how God’s forgiveness frees us from self-condemnation and enables us to forgive ourselves, click on the link for the DVD, Eradicating Sin-Consciousness.