From Dan McClain…

Romans 8:1-2 (NLT):  So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

As I’ve aged, I tend to not like stories that have time travel in them.  As soon as the possibility of time travel enters into a book or film, I begin to get mentally distracted by the power and responsibility that the time traveler often doesn’t understand or just flat-out ignores.  As the main character in the story is using time travel to undue a wrong in their own life, I get distracted by the possibilities of all the greater wrongs the traveler could attempt to right.  While Marty McFly is running the Delorean up to 88 miles per hour to make the jump to 1955, I can’t help but think about how he could use the Delorean to travel back to 1920 instead, with a warning about the rise of Hitler in Germany.  Then I begin to go down the rabbit hole of thought about how that would change history and I wonder if the known about our current history is better than the unknown of attempting to change it.

Before I lose you.  Before I make you think I might just be losing my mind, I want to pose this question to you.  Have you ever wished you could go back in your own life and do something differently?  Have you ever thought, “if I had just not made that mistake then…” I will let you fill in the blank.  I don’t think I’m alone in having those thoughts from time to time.  If you have regrets that keep bubbling up to the surface of your mind I want you to really consider surrendering them.

No other road, no other way through your life gets you to where you are today.  If you know the truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, if you are pursuing a life that seeks Jesus to be the Lord of your life then you have nothing to regret.  All those mistakes you have made, and are still going to make, do not hold any power over you.

John 8:31-36 (NLT):  31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

Likewise, if you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior then today can be THE DAY you surrender your life to Him.  Today can be it.  Your Delorean ride into a future of surrendered regrets and being forgiven.  Seek Jesus for forgiveness and pray to Him.  If you ask He will answer.  If you seek Him you will find Him.  If you knock the door will be opened to you.  The enemy wants you to dwell on your past.  The enemy wants you to be consumed by regret and fear.  He wants you to be a slave to all the fear and self loathing that your human mind can conjure.  Imprisoned within your own mind, each mistake an iron bar and every sin a brick in a wall that chokes out the Son. The enemy does not want you to see the possibility of an eternal life with your Savior and King.  Jesus has His arms wide open and He has a journey planned specifically for you.  And when you look back you’ll see that even in your mistakes, He was providing and planning for your greater good.

John 3:16-17 (NLT):  16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

 

For me personally, when I look back I see where one poor decision after another moved me to living in a town that I had never planned on living in, and going to a Church that I had never heard of, where through the faith of people I barely knew, my family was loved and cared for through the roughest part of my life, so that through them I would truly understand who my Lord and Savior was and is and will always be; I am amazed by the grace and love that God, my Father, has for me.  If I look back and desire to change any one of those mistakes I forsake His love and mercy.  And nothing could tempt me to give that up, not even a ride in a Delorean.