• Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrines’ perspective on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content and
• Editor’s note: “Spiritual leaders answer” is a weekly column inviting Kaua‘i’s religious and spiritual leaders to share their doctrines’ perspective on a suggested subject. Every Friday a topic is printed inviting a response. Submissions are edited for content and length. Submitting a piece does not guarantee publication due to space limitations. Thoughts or suggestions for future topics are always welcome. Next week the suggested topic is forgiveness. The topic at the end of the column is for the following week.
Pastor Wayne Patton
Anahola Baptist Church
Regret seems to be a part of life. Most people, if not everyone, experience it. What is regret? Regret is a mental activity. We realize we are wrong in our attitudes, actions or words. Our minds wish we had not done something or at least that we had not been caught.
Sometimes our regret leads to remorse, which is emotional. Our minds realize we are wrong and our emotions feel pain because of it. That is where most people stop. The apostle Paul calls this “worldly sorrow” in his letter to the Corinthians. It stops short of “Godly sorrow.”
Godly sorrow involves the element of repentance. Our minds realize we are wrong, our emotions feel pain and our wills choose to change the wrong attitudes, behaviors or words with God’s help. Paul told the Corinthians that “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.” (2 Cor. 7:10).
Regret is like limping along with a rock in our shoe. Godly sorrow helps us to stop long enough to pull off our shoe and get rid of that rock once and for all.
Kahu James Fung
Lihu‘e Christian Church
Wouldn’t it be sad if in our old age we looked back at our life and said, “If only I had done such and such when I had the opportunity?” Or “I should have tried to have given it my best shot instead of playing it safe.”
This is what we mean by “regret.” It’s the woulda, coulda, shoulda syndrome.
The Bible speaks beautifully to this. In the 90th Psalm, the poet says to God, “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
We should not take a single day of life for granted. Life goes by quicker than we realize. Make every day count for what’s positive and worthwhile.
We could waste our lives by being small-minded, petty, or holding on to resentments. On the other hand, we could live a regret-free life by living with gratitude, by having the wisdom of knowing what to overlook, by loving more and fearing less.
I had a friend who used to say, “I want to be alive ‘til the day I die.” He didn’t want to be like those who lose their zest for life or who work for their pension as opposed to working at their passion.
I believe God wants us to relish the gift of life and to make our loving contribution while we have the opportunity, while bringing honor to the One who gives us the precious gift of life.
Rev. Derrick Vander Meulen
Kaua‘i Reformation Church
Regret is one of those emotions we all try to avoid. If we are wise, we learn from regret.
To regret is to feel sorry either for something we did in the past or for neglecting to do something. And, like so many things in life, there are levels of importance to the things we may regret. We can regret staying up too late last night which, in the scheme of things, isn’t very important; after receiving a poor grade we might regret not studying for a test or after an elderly parent dies, we may regret not having spent the time with them that we should have.
But there is one regret that is more important than all these. It is the regret of having neglected repentance. The apostle Paul in the Bible speaks of this specific regret in II Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Biblical repentance is an acknowledgment of your sin, of being sorry for your sin and trusting that Jesus Christ paid for your sin. This is why Christians celebrate Good Friday today. Christ died on a Roman cross over 2,000 years ago, not because of any crime or sin He committed, but for the sins of all those who believe in Him and turn to Him in faith.
Regret is one of those emotions we all try to avoid. Repent and you will never regret it.
Topic for two
weeks from today
• Will you speak to us on creation?
• Spiritual leaders are invited to e-mail responses of three to five paragraphs to pwoolway@kauaipubco.com.
• Deadline each week is 5 p.m. Tuesday.
