Hitting the "reset" button on your past.

Have you ever wished you could go back and push "reset" on your life?

Maybe you did something in the past, maybe it's a sin but not necessarily, it could just be a decision you made that you'd make differently. Maybe you'd choose a different career, or major in college, or not take a particularly disastrous vacation.

It's kind of the "time machine" fantasy. I've often found myself awake at night thinking, "If I could go back in time, and smack myself, and tell myself to do something different... I wouldn't have to deal with this problem in my life..."

But then I start thinking about the blessings I have in my life that I wouldn't have if I hadn't made the choices I made. Even some of the sins I've had in my past, if I were to erase them from my past, would mean that I wouldn't be where I am today. For instance, I was drinking the first time I mustered up the courage to talk to my wife. I have to wonder, if I hadn't been drinking (and at that time of my life, given the quantities I used to consume, it was definitively a sin) would I have ever started the flirtations that eventually led to our marriage, our family, to every single one of my most valued blessings today?

That's right. If God came down and gave me a button that I could push to go "back in time" and re-do my biggest mistakes in life I wouldn't push it. Because if I did, I wouldn't have my marriage, my children never would have been born, and who knows what my faith life would be like today if it wasn't for what I had to go through to get to where I am today.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Notice Paul doesn't say "some things" or "only the good things" but "all things." The Greek word here (panta) is comprehensive—it encompasses everything in our lives.

Even our failures. Even our sins. Even our deepest regrets.

Not that God causes our sin, but His redemptive power is so magnificent that He can transform even our worst moments into something that serves His purpose.

Think about that for a moment.

The darkest chapter of your story isn't wasted in God's economy.

 

Looking Forward, Not Backward

I'm reminded of a young father I once counseled (who was incredibly relatable) who couldn't move past his earlier years of addiction. Though sober for five years, he kept saying, "If only I could get back those wasted years."

His eyes were fixed so firmly on the past that he couldn't see God's work in the present.

Paul addresses this tendency directly:

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal..." (Philippians 3:13-14)

Paul, who once persecuted Christians, doesn't advocate amnesia about our past. If anyone had reason for regret it was the one who'd recognized he'd persecuted and effectively murdered Christians. That's not Paul's take. Rather, he refuses to let his past define his present or determine his future.

Like a runner in a race, we can't move forward effectively while looking backward.

 

Something New Is Springing Up

God spoke these beautiful words to Israel during their exile—a situation that resulted from their own unfaithfulness:

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Can you hear the tenderness in God's voice?

He's saying: "Don't let your past failures blind you to what I'm doing right now."

Perhaps today, in the desert of your regret, God is creating rivers of new possibility. But to see them, you must be willing to look up from the dry ground of "what might have been."

 

Godly Sorrow vs. Endless Regret

There's a profound difference between healthy reflection on our failures and unhealthy fixation on them:

"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)

Godly sorrow acknowledges sin but embraces grace.

Worldly sorrow wallows in consequences without transformation.

One leads to life. The other to death.

When we remain trapped in self-condemnation after genuine repentance, we're essentially saying Christ's work on the cross isn't sufficient for our particular failures.

But it is. It truly is.

 

Joseph's Remarkable Perspective

Few biblical stories illustrate this principle more powerfully than Joseph's. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, he had every human reason to be bitter.

Yet years later, he told them:

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Genesis 50:20)

Joseph saw God's redemptive purpose woven through even the most painful chapters of his story.

 

Christ: The Ultimate Redeemer of Our Past

The most beautiful truth in all of this is that Christ's work on the cross doesn't just forgive our past—it redeems it.

The cross itself stands as the ultimate example of God bringing extraordinary good from unspeakable evil. The very worst thing that ever happened (the murder of the innocent Son of God) became the very best thing (our salvation).

If God can do that with the cross, imagine what He can do with your past.

Your regrets, in the hands of Christ, become not just forgiven failures but building blocks in God's redemptive story.

So today, I invite you to release those regrets at the foot of the cross. Not to forget them entirely, but to see them transformed by the One who specializes in bringing life from death and purpose from pain.

Your past doesn't define you. Christ does.

And He's not finished writing your story.

Grace and peace,

Judah

 

P.S. If you're struggling with regret that feels overwhelming, please reach out to someone, ideally a pastor. Shoot me a message if you don't know anyone else you can talk to. Sometimes the journey from regret to redemption is one we need to walk together.