Have you ever wondered what people regret the most just before leaving this life? It seems others have as well, so Huffington Post in the year 2012 published an article on the top five regrets of the dying. Here they are:
- I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
- I wish that I had let myself be happier.
I found that list interesting in that numbers 1,3, and 4 are some form of regret connected to others while number 2 is connected to personal action. Number 5 seems to bring up regret of being too serious or perhaps too passive. Do not allow the “I wishes” to ruin your life today. Check out these verses: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous… In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (I Timothy 6:19)
Totally avoid these regrets by living your life for your Lord, walking in forgiveness, being who He has made you to be and daily embracing the life that is truly life.
You are guilty as charged, sinful, lost and separated from your Creator.
The blood of the Redeemer provides redemption for all eternity. What is the price we owe our Redeemer? We owe Him one hundred percent of our life.
If you’re like me, you really think about what you will post on social media and what you will not post. It is a good thought process/exercise because you are opening yourself up to the world and that world might include persons who you are not expecting to read what you write. It is a good practice to remember and think about the fact that our Lord is looking over our shoulder as we write. That means we must listen and pay attention to that still small voice. That also means we want to be careful about what we write that might offend, that might anger unnecessarily or that might hurt another. So here are some guidelines that I try to follow when posting:
Doors provide entry and exit. Doors opening invite access and doors closing speak to seasons coming to an end. Doors set boundaries. Some doors are guarded and others have alarms connected to them. There are doors with windows allowing partial sight access along with light entry and there are those that protect from the light. Some doors open automatically and others are manual. Doors protect from intruders and can be decorated to welcome visitors. Still further there are doors that we are never to open. (See Proverbs 5:8) Then there are doors of hope along with doors of despair. And when something or someone is close we sometimes say, “It’s right at the door.”
I heard on the news that a man was finally arrested and charged with setting the fires in CA that were so destructive. He is being labeled as an arsonist. I had this thought during prayer this morning that we need “Holy Ghost arsonists.” Obviously arson is a negative term and an act that has malicious intent connected to it. But since our Father redeems all things, could He give us those who are and will be fire starters: Holy Ghost fire starters? I began praying for such persons to emerge all over the world. And as the old song goes, “…it only takes a spark.”
And…I…also…wonder why the holocaust of mother’s choosing to kill their babies in gruesome and painful measures with the governments help, push and provision of providers still takes place on a daily basis (in our enlightened and educated society) in greater numbers of deaths than all the wars America has ever been involved in (all the while this is now somehow viewed as normal). And… why many people who cry out to God only when they are in danger and could care less in normal, everyday life (spending most of their day cursing God and denying His existence) of a personal relationship with Him or the life they could have in serving Him. It could look like God has removed Himself.
This blog is from a spiritual father who loves this generation enough to share truth from a man named Peter who walked with Jesus. Please consider Simon Peter’s admonitions below, who we all know was not perfect, but who went on to be one of Jesus’ greatest spokesmen in the New Testament church.
5. Commitment to a local church, to relationships, to accountability and to discipleship is vital for our generation: Maybe you feel like you do not need the church, but does that church (people) need you? It is not just commitment to a building or a place, it is commitment to God’s children, your family. Love the brotherhood of believers… I Peter 2: 13, 17; I Peter 4: 9, 10
A number of years ago I regularly met with a spiritual father, who graciously volunteered to counsel me, read what I was writing and hold me accountable in my walk with Jesus. I loved those sessions from this seasoned man of God who was – over a long and amazing life – a farmer, then a missionary, then a pastor and then a college professor. In one of our meetings he gave me a copy of his musings about how his marriage lasted over six decades. I have listed his eight pieces of advice for you below.
“In order for me to feel good about me, I need to know that you feel good about me.”
For the first two questions the answer is: reconciliation. To reconcile means to go from an unacceptable state to an acceptable state. Christ has done that work by first accepting us. (Romans 15:7)
The next two have an answer as well: justification. Before my performance, I am justified. To be justified means that I am forgiven of my sin; I am free from my shame and my guilt and I am in right standing with God. Again, not because of what I have done or can do, but because of what Christ has done. (Romans 3:21-28; 5:1; II Corinthians 5:21)
We all deserve punishment, however Christ took that punishment for our past, present and future sin upon Himself and that’s called: propitiation. Propitiation is when God placed His Son upon the cross for us to make atonement forever. (I John 4:9, 10, 18)
Lastly, I can change. I am not up for a vote. The answer to change is: regeneration. Robert McGee once said that who you think you should be is less than who you already are. To be regenerated is to become a new creation. To become born again is to get to start over and participate in His divine nature. (II Corinthians 5:17)
This is a blog about “church,” so-to-speak, but maybe we miss the mark a bit if we don’t keep putting the focus back on the One who precedes the church and everything else. The church is, no doubt, meant to be a much more radical movement than we have understood it to be. How much more important is it for us to see that Jesus, the head of the church, is a far more radical man/God than we can even begin to understand. He is the One we, His church, are designed to imitate. Perhaps if we get Jesus right, and our imitation of Him in keeping with who He is, we will naturally get church right.
Steve Prokopchak 