What does it really mean to regret your sin? A Rabbi once explained it best like this – How would you feel if you bought a lottery ticket and a friend walks up to you and offers you $1000 for it and you take it, and then later that week you are watching the news and you hear your friend just won the Mega Jackpot with it? You would regret selling it for $1000. You would say, “what did I just do!” Hearing that news would be a sinking feeling in your gut. That feeling should be the equivalent amount of regret you feel from the sin you committed in your life.
True Regret For Sin Comes When You Recognize the Damage it Causes
Many people do not understand how damaging sin is, and what kind of impact it has on you, the people around you, or even worse the impact it has on the Kingdom of God. Sin is sometimes seen as just a normal part of life, and as if it is something I can go on doing every day and is not really a big deal.
Paul says in Romans 14:10, “… we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
This means all of us will be going to court one day and give an account for all the good deeds in our life, all of the sins we have committed that we did not take care of through repentance, and even every idle word spoken (Matthew 12:36).
The best way to view this is, every time there is a sin in this world, there is a warrant put out for that sin, and there must be an account given. In this world a judge signs for a warrant for an arrest. That warrant will always be there until you go before the judge to deal with it. No matter how many years you do nothing about the warrant, one day you will be driving along and get pulled over by a police officer, and you will have to take care of it.
Just like you would have to deal with a warrant for your arrest, God wants you to deal with your sin now before you get to the judgment that Paul referred to. Jesus also warns us when he said, “…come to terms quickly with your accuser…” (Matthew 5:24-26). This is done through repentance.
Sin Is A Critical Issue We All Must Deal With
Many of us tend to use the excuse ‘we only need to rely on Jesus’, and He has already dealt with our sinful desires for us on the cross. That is not exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
We are to deal with lawlessness in our own life, make corrections, and desire to know God’s ways and make Him priority in our life. How we choose to deal with our own sins here in this world will be put to the test and revealed one day.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Jesus makes it very clear that we are to all deal with sin, as God also said in Genesis 4:7 “you must rule over sin.” We are going to be judged on how well we did. We are to take the evil inclination that is in us (our flesh) which is unholy and make the proper correction and restore it to holiness. That is a process, can take a long time, and through repentance we come to love God and know Him better. Our reward is ultimately a resurrected position in the Kingdom of God.
How To Deal With Sin
You are to first recognize and confess the sin, second regret the sin, and third accept on yourself that you will no longer do the sin, and work to overcome it. Even though it is easier said than done, it is important to come to the point that you understand the damage you did, recognize there is a judgment for your sin, and start the process of restoring your life through repentance. Simply put – clean up you mess.
During this 30-day journey:
- Have a change of heart (switch your thinking)
- Think about what you have done
- Make a list of things you need to work on
- Ask God to allow you to understand the damage sin in your life has caused
- Allow the regret for sin to surface, and forgive yourself, and ask God to help you make things right
- Resolve not to sin any longer
- Be open to work on cleaning up your mess (i.e. If you stole – work to pay it back, and if you cannot then donate time or money to charity.)
- Pray and ask God’s forgiveness and ask Him to help you through this process
Just be willing to work through the process of repentance.
Some will say not to worry about sin and that we are all under grace because the Bible says, “… sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace …” (Romans 6:12-14). Does it even make sense because you are under grace you do not need to worry about sin? Many preachers misinterpret what Paul taught, even Peter explained they were also doing it 2000 years ago:
In 2 Peter 3:16 he says, “… as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scripture.”
We do not get out of the judgment day and we will have to give an account of our life (Romans 2:5-8). We are to humble our hearts, submit to God, and work on our mess. A good analogy is, if you spill a cup of milk, it only makes sense to clean it up. Would you just leave it there and let someone else clean up the mess? That is what many people do with their sins, but the person they ask to clean it up is Jesus. David said in Psalm 51:3, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Just as God gave David and everyone else, He has given us the gift of repentance to deal with sin (Hebrews 4:2).
A Parable of a King, Honey, and True Repentance
There was a King who had barrels of honey. This was the best honey in the whole wide world! This King was so proud of this honey that he protected it every way possible. He had to go on a long journey for three months, and while he was gone, he hired three servants that he knew were capable of protecting it. He told them that he would reward them greatly for their service.
After his journey, he called the three servants to bring him his honey. And upon inspection he saw that the first servant had not even opened his barrel and the all the honey was still there. He thanked the servant and paid him $1000. The next servant stepped forward with his barrel, and the King saw that the container was empty. He immediately called the executioner and commanded – “off with his head!” The third servant stepped forward, and the King noticed that the lid’s seal had been broken. After inspecting the barrel, the King saw there was only a few servings gone. The King said well done and paid the servant $100,000.
This outraged the first servant and he said, “how is it that I only received $1000 and did not touch your honey, but yet this other servant has eaten some of your honey and you paid him $100,000?” The King answered, this servant tasted how good the honey was, and yet he chose not to eat it because he knew what the honey meant to me. That to me is far more valuable, especially after he tasted how good the honey was.
This parable represents what true repentance is all about. After tasting sin, you choose not to pursue it any longer because you love God more than the desires of sin. You choose to overcome it – that is what the King wants from you.
Where Do You Go From Here
You should review your list that you have been working on in this journey and add anything you forgot to it, ask God to reveal the damage you did to him, yourself, and to others around you. Ask for God’s help, and commit to yourself that you can do this, you can make rectification. This is a process, and it can take a year or longer, but commit to it – it will change your life. You are a vessel that has been broken by sin. God is in the business of fixing us, but He wants to work with us on this journey. God wants to fill your vessel with blessings, but there has to be a vessel that does not have cracks in it and can hold the blessings. You have to do your part to put the pieces back together too, and then God can finish it up and bring you to a complete restoration.
Think about the words of Paul in Romans 8:1-2 when he says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Pick yourself up and wipe off the dust, take sin seriously and know it has consequences. Choose to live a life of repentance, study God’s Instructions (His Torah) and apply them in your life as He reveals how to, and God’s spirit will lead you and set you free. He will point you in the right direction in life. He will open your eyes. You will be able to choose life, and you will no longer be under the law that sends you to a death where you are disconnected from God for eternity.
True regret for sin is where you recognize the damage it is doing all around you, and you take action to do something about it and overcome it.
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