Regret

To feel sorry, disappointed, distressed, or remorseful about.

“I regret not speaking to her before she left.”

To remember with a feeling of loss or sorrow; mourn.

Noun; A feeling of sorrow, disappointment, distress, or remorse about something that one wishes could be different.

A sense of loss and longing for someone or something gone or passed out of existence.

A courteous expression of regret, especially at having to decline an invitation.

Synonyms: sorrow, grief, anguish, woe, heartbreak.

What does the Bible have to say about this “regret”? More than you might imagine:

Genesis 6:6: “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.”

Proverbs 15:13: “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the Spirit is crushed.”

2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death”

Matthew 27:3-5: “Then when Judas, His (Jesus) betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!’ They said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.”

After all the regret we have caused the Holy Spirit, we still do not deserve God’s graciousness, nor HIS love. We should regret being born, as many of the disciples stated. YOUR sins, MY sins, EVERYBODY’S sins…brought about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So everyone is guilty of the murder of Jesus Christ, by virtue of our sins. In the end though, it is the blood of Jesus Christ on that Roman Cross that will cover and remove our sins.

How odd is it, that we  are unacceptable before God, because of the Original Sin in the Garden of Eden? Now we are “guilty” of the murder of Jesus Christ. If this had been brought to a court here in the USA, there would be death sentences to be handed out…to YOU and ME. One by one, we would be executed for committing the murder of Jesus Christ! And we would be found GUILTY.

That being the case, how many would be spared the death penalty?

Let’s get some things straight here. Without salvation in Christ, everyone would end-up in hell and then the lake of fire (the second death)…for eternity. Having said this and then reading in the Bible that the blood of Jesus Christ on that Cross is the ONLY salvation to heaven…who all is bathing in His precious blood? Not many at all. As a matter of Fact…FEW! Oops, there’s that three letter word again…FEW!

And then we look around and we hear from others, “Well, the Bible is too old, it’s no longer relevant.” Or maybe…”I just don’t have any time right now to read the Bible.” Or might you hear, “I don’t believe the Bible.” Or  it could be, “I’m a Muslim” or “I’m a Buddhist, a Taoist, a Hindi” or whatever!

Do you NOT understand there are two ways out of this life, when we die?

Heaven or hell.

That’s it…that’s all there is. And you say, “I don’t have time right now to read the Bible?” And , then you say that I am crazy? You want to call me a “Bible thumper” or maybe a, “Jesus Freak?” Then I stand guilty. I am guilty of SIN, I am a blasphemer, and every other sin known to God! Here’s what’s weird…God Almighty…still LOVES me and wants to save me from none other than…ME!”

Because of this I  have gone to the Cross of Jesus Christ. I have “bathed” in His precious blood.  I have asked HIM to forgive me of my sins. I have stated and will continue to state, that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I will NOT back down from that…I will NOT give in, give up or go away. I will gladly accept death on those grounds!

How odd is it? I live to profess Jesus Christ in everything I know to do. Far too many people don’t like that and would wish me dead for it. Which is fine with me—send me to where I want to be the most…with my Lord and Savior! Having said that, do the naysayers think they are going to cause me fear?

I have NO fear, none what-so-ever. No FEAR…shoot me dead and I am immediately with Jesus Christ in heaven…right where I wanted to be in the first place. (Thank you so very much, for giving me exactly what I want.)

You see, you can’t threaten a man who has no fear, you can NOT make him change. Is any of this getting through to you? When the Bible says, “The Truth will set you free” it’s telling you the truth.

Now go to a person that is dead set on living this life, in this world, and threaten to take away all that he has. He will fight you tooth and nail to keep you from doing so. He will not want to die, because then he will have lost all that matters to him—his things. Stand a man up on a post and tell him he is about to die and he will plead and lie to keep from dying.

Have you ever wondered why this pleading happens? He, like everyone in this world,  KNOWS there is a hell and a heaven. He KNOWS hell is where he is headed…thus his FEAR of death. Eternally lost…eternally dead.

People leave this earth either kicking and screaming or peacefully and contented. I will go in the latter, I know I will have life everlasting with Jesus Christ.

Where do you stand on this? Because of Jesus Christ, I live as a real man and come that time, I will die as a real man because Jesus Christ has held me up as a real man. I have no other way to explain it. I have made my decision and I will live and die for that decision and my Lord will come for me and take me home….right where I belong!

How odd is it? Jesus Christ, the Savior and King of everything was born in such a humble manner. And yet, there were thousands of angels who announced His arrival, to include a beautiful star to mark where He was located. The Incarnate Creator of all things, far beyond the universe who knows absolutely everything and everyone, came here as a baby. Born to humble parents in a stable full of animals and yet HE was everything…everyone…could ever need.

Jesus Christ—God in human form, came here to save billions of lives from the worst death that no one is able to conceive in their finite minds.

I am not able to truly contemplate everything that took place with His birth and there is a reason for this. It is because I am not able to contemplate everything that took place with His death. God Almighty came here for one specific reason and that reason was to die. Now that is something beyond my ability to understand. The prospects and designs from His birth, all the days of His life until the day we murdered Him on that Roman Cross; I can barely contain it.

We like to contemplate many things and somehow we think we understand what this life is like and what it is for… Jesus Christ is absolutely God in human form. The actions of everything Jesus Christ did here on earth and the reason He did them is far above our abilities to comprehend. Our ability would have to be stretched far beyond the free universe and even at that, that is still only physical.

We must discern the spiritual aspects as well. Suffice it to say, we have failed entirely to understand all the physical and we have barely scratched the spiritual.

We need to understand something here: The Word of God—the Bible, will only give you enough to understand (as you are able), and God Almighty already knows how far. Personally speaking, I am given just so much to understand, as far as the unending depths that the Word of God can go. Physically and spiritually speaking, remembering we are simply humans, we are able to understand just a certain amount. Any more would fry our hearts and spirits in an instant and the Lord God knows this.

Thus we are given small amounts at a time and even at that, we sometimes falter. We must know our places, if you will, we are human and HE is God Almighty.

That seems to make His humble birth and horrible death, more than we could understand!

As we look around today, we are witnesses to the failure of mankind in every respect concerning peace on earth. When we are able to follow Jesus Christ and do as HE asks of us, HE graciously applies peace into our lives. And as we view the world from that place of peace, we see how reckless and disobedient humans are, to include ourselves.

IF indeed God Almighty is able to come here in such humble circumstances, who are we to say, we should be any different. When recognizing exactly who Jesus Christ really is, understanding God’s abilities, knowing His love for us, what do the leaders of this world have to offer? Nothing! They will never obtain REAL PEACE, nor shall we, except with Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:13-14: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

This is the essence of everything we need to clearly understand about God Almighty. If you finally understand this, everything else will fall in place like a set of dominoes. If we understand the nature of being human, we see there is a price for everything. Salvation comes with a price tag as well, the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! No spilling of blood, for the remission of our sins, NO salvation! No salvation, no heaven with God Almighty.

Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

And so we look at ourselves and think we need to be the best, the fastest, the smartest, right? And the eternal God of absolutely everything says… “For I am meek and lowly in heart.”

It is absolutely evident…WE…are the “oxy-morons”…as compared to HIM! What other reason do we have to explain our abject failures as a human race. Without God Almighty we will never experience peace, or true happiness, nor joy and we will certainly never see heaven!

Is any of this beginning to make sense to you?

We have stars for ornaments at Christmas, depictions of angels, a lowly manger and stable that we call “nativity sets.” And then we hear people say, “Awe… look, the baby Jesus!” Are you kidding me? I have never heard a single person talk about the humility of the birth of Jesus Christ; that should be a very important clue to you and me and everyone else.

The eternal God of everything came here in such a humble manner and we in our infinite wisdom think we should be better or higher than that?

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Revelation 1:7: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

Matthew 23:11-12: “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

So here we are reading the Word of God, and in essence God tells us that HE is humble of heart. So then how should we be…humble? We are not greater than our Creator, or the Savior that loves us enough to die on a Roman Cross for us. We are told, we should be like unto Jesus Christ.

At  Christmas…we celebrate the humble birth of Jesus Christ…GOD…in human form!

At Easter…we celebrate the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross for our SIN and HIS resurrection to heaven, where HE waits for us. Jesus was crucified as a criminal…how humble is that?

So in light of all this evidence, looking carefully at it and understanding what it means…How BIG are we? And then you wonder why some people of the Bible threw themselves down before God as though they were dead?

Some, conveniently side-step the Word of God and then wonder why the world is the way it is. By ignoring God the world is the way it is. Yet people squirm and squeal because they are not getting what they want.  There is no peace or joy in their lives so they decide to blame God. And they look around and see all those dying, even family members and they shake their fists at God.

Somehow many people have lost the perspective of what birth and death truly are. They have everything to do with the LIFE you live between two those points. Everything…depends on your decision of whether to follow Jesus Christ or not.

So what is your perspective of Christmas and Easter now?

If you cannot discern the difference, then you will never understand the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary. Your life will mean absolutely NOTHING. Your death as a human will descend into the depths of hell and the lake of fire!

More than just that, the Rapture will not include you. It must be understood, you have a choice, Jesus Christ in your life…or NOT. (That will determine your fate, not only here on earth, but in eternity as well.)

The Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ has everything to do with salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ on that Roman Cross, and that begins with the birth of Jesus Christ in the most humble of circumstances. Let’s look at this simply:

Jesus Christ in your life…eternal heaven!

NO Jesus Christ in your life…eternal hell!

I am simply trying to understand that when Christmas comes around, how anyone is able to miss the evidence. It is not a holiday…it is the humble birth of Jesus Christ…who IS GOD!

If you don’t pay any attention to this…YOU will miss the entire reason for everything that followed. You will miss the Lord completely. You will never be covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, your sin will be your downfall and your end in eternity will be horrible!

The ONLY birth and death…that has ever mattered..is that of Jesus Christ!