Many of us look back to our life with regrets and anguish over the opportunities we lost and the wrong choices we've made. Some of us realise over time that the pursuits we invested ourselves in weren't worth the effort, the relationships we've established weren't true, and the causes we fought for weren't really worth fighting for. Can you relate to this?
If you can, I want to encourage you. All that you've lost isn't really worthless, if you trust in God. He'll turn things around if you would allow Him to.
A Promise
Some of us spend years into something before realising that we should've worked on something else. I know of some people who, after giving years to some cause, find themselves regretting it: "Oh the years I could've put into my family and career," one says. "If only I had learned to save up for my future instead of donating my resources to that worthless cause," another would say. "I made the wrong choice," all of them tell me.
Have you had such kinds of regrets? You feel like all your efforts to follow God are in vain. You feel like God hasn't heard you, seen you, and is not concerned about you. Do you feel this way?
God has a message for you:
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30 MEV)
Come Home to Christ
In our pursuit of our personal dreams and desires, we all make wrong choices. We prioritise one thing over another, all of them not as important as God. We pursue relationships with people who hurt us and abandon us. We give our resources to others who only abuse us. We then realise how much we've wasted ourselves.
In our pursuit of Christ, however, we also fight a hard fight – one that's worth it no matter what. We deny ourselves. We let go of things that hinder us and ensnare us. We put off childish ways. We bless those who hurt us. We forgive those who offend us. We do all that we can to bring people to Christ and Christ to people.
Yet in all that, many of us feel weary. In following Jesus Christ our Lord we face rejection, trial and hardship. Do we consider all the years we give in pursuit of Him as something regrettable? Do we look at His face and tell ourselves, "I've made a wrong choice to follow this Man"?
Yet, even if you feel like God has forsaken you in your pursuit of Him, He hasn't. He didn't. He won't.
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (see Hebrews 13:5)
Come home to Jesus, my friend. God promises this to you:
He will restore all that you've lost in following Him.
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16:15 MEV)
"So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame." (Joel 2:25-26 NKJV)
