Sunrise of a new day

“If only I had been more loving … spent more time.” These are words I have heard over and over from people grieving over the death of someone in their family. It is especially difficult when the death was self-inflicted. We all wish at times to be able to go back and change something we said or did. But, unfortunately, erasing and changing the past is not possible … or is it? The key to this miracle is found in the word forgiveness.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  2 Corinthians 7:10

This verse is about confessing our wrongs before God and receiving forgiveness.

How can God’s forgiveness leave no regret, especially when the person we have wronged is gone? Because the grace of God brings with it the “hope of the glory of God.”

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Romans 5:1-2

In other words, in the end the glory of God wins. It wins over our regrets, our shame, our sins — it wins out over death. God’s grace replaces all our regrets with peace and hope in Him. I still struggle with my feelings of regret; constantly reminding myself that I stand covered by God’s grace. How God resolves all the messes in life is His miracle not mine. I just know that through forgiveness and following Jesus, I will someday see the glory of God cover the land … like the sunrise of a new day.