Regrets
The pathway of consistent sin always leads us to become someone that we don't want to be. Saul the persecutor would became Paul the apostle, and celebrated the magnificent forgiveness of God for his earlier, murderous life, but years later he still looked back in regret - sin is a pathway downward, usually leads to the destination of regret. 22 years later, Paul wrote about how, fuelled by religious zeal, he had been so terribly misguided, with the loss of life for many Christians as a result.
‘And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him’ (Acts 22:20)
‘I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison’ (Acts 22:4)
‘For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it (Galatians 1:13)
What might we want our lives to look like, 22 years from now? Will we be filled with regret, or grateful that, broadly, we have followed Jesus? It’s been said (some say by C.S.Lewis, although it’s contested) that, ‘we can’t go back and change the beginning, but we can start where we are and change the ending’.
Let’s make good, godly choices today - they will shape our future as well as what is in the present.