They say that hindsight is perfect, or hindsight is 20/20. Former British Prime minister, Margaret Thatcher made the famous quote, "The wisdom of hindsight, so useful to historians and . . . authors . . . is sadly denied to practicing politicians." Sadly, it's also denied to the average person in the street. Think about it: how many of us, given the opportunity to do something again would do it differently? Of course we all have regrets about the way we did some particular thing that didn't achieve the desired outcome. Some of those things are not all that important, and we can live with the regret. But other regrets are not so easy to live with. Especially when you live with the result right in front of you day after day.
I once read an article by a Mum whose middle aged son killed himself. She said the thing that ate him up day after day was how he had messed up his marriage, and his kids lives, and felt he had no way of undoing it. This is truly what we would call hopelessness.
I think that suicide must seem like the best option (or only option) for some who are weighed down with regrets. Hopelessness is a terrible master! Most of us have a genuine sorrow over things we've stuffed up, and feel powerless when we can't 'fix' it. It's this powerlessness that grinds us into sorrow and despair to the point where we see no other way to move on with life.
(Let me digress for a moment. The whole subject of suicide is taboo for some. I've read that some consider suicide as the unforgivable sin. In past times when cemeteries were built next to church grounds people who took their own life were sometimes not permitted to be buried in the same ground as regular folk who died of natural causes. The thought was that the taking of your own life registers too high on God's list of things that can't be forgiven. I don't pretend to be a theologian, but I don't know where this teaching is found in the Bible. Maybe the people who made these rules up didn't know what it was like to be so downtrodden with life's crap that there seemed to be no other way out but exiting. To think that God sees my hurt, and doesn't understand, and have compassion, is preposterous!)
But I have found that there is a way to move on! It's called forgiveness. There is a famous quote from Paul of Tarsus in the Bible that says, " . . but (this) one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead . . " (Philippians 4:13 NKJV)
This man Paul had a whole bunch of things in his past that could have torn him apart with regret. He had ordered the death and imprisonment of many men, women, and children whose only guilt was to disagree with his religion. He did this fanatically over a period of time. But he found forgiveness. His past, and his regrets, could have crushed him with paralyzing guilt, and forced him to despair. But he found forgiveness in Jesus. At first he didn't think this could even be possible, for God to forgive him for treating His people so badly. But then he met Jesus and realized that there was nothing that he had done that couldn't be forgiven.
If you read the whole passage from Paul's letter above, you'll see that he mentions 2 things: forgiveness and forgetting. Now comes the hard part - actually forgetting your past. Here's the trick: we can't really forget the past without a lobotomy, can we? Common sense tells us that we will always be able to remember our past. So how can we be expected to do something that isn't possible to do? Here is the difference between knowing about forgiveness to experiencing it. The New Testament teaches that when we ask God to forgive our past sins and failures he deals with them permanently. Just because we remember our sins doesn't mean they're not dealt with. This is where faith comes into it; and I maintain that until you know Jesus personally you will never fully appreciate the power of forgiveness. I'm not talking about the mere knowledge of it, but the powerful ability to look our past squarely in the eye and realise that it cannot control my future. In fact, if the Bible can be trusted, it clearly teaches that God chooses to wash our sins away permanently so that nothing stands between us and all that he has for us. It teaches that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for sin, to deal with it once and for all. As far as God is concerned our sins don't exist anymore! That's what the word "gospel" means - good news.
I've included a link at the bottom of this blog. It's the lyrics of a song that Don Fransisco wrote called, "Too Small a Price". It's the story of one of the criminals who was crucified alongside Jesus. It's a powerful song of forgiveness, and a second chance, even when you're at death's door.
Bye for now . . .
http://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/uulffl/too_small_a_pricejoy/
