We can lose our peace when we measure our self worth by our performance. When this happens, we haven’t learned to separate who we are from what we do.
It seems everyone has so much to do these days. When our lives become overcrowded with too many things to do, we risk becoming stressed out and grouchy.
There are a variety of reasons for becoming too busy. Many people simply crowd too many activities into each day and run out of time to complete them.
One person may be too busy because of the demands of a growing career added to the needs of the family — needs such as homework, sports, music
lessons, and a variety of other activities. Others become too busy because they are unable to say no when asked to do something. Still others get their
sense of worth from being needed, so they purposely fill their lives with doing things for others.
Whatever the reason, when we’re too busy, our minds become a prisoner to what we must do next — constantly thinking and planning. The purpose of
an overcrowded life is to choke out the Word of God and keep us unfruitful (see Mark 4:18-19).
Our performance is not the most important thing in life; fruitfulness is. It doesn’t mean God doesn’t want us to be productive, but it does mean that He
is more interested in our peace than our achievements.
Another reason people fail to live in peace is that they will not let go of the failures of the past. Regret debilitates and destroys. Along with regret
comes self-condemnation, shame, grief, and torment. Yet once we are born again, no matter what we have done in the past, our failures are removed as
far as the east is from the west (see Psalm 103:12).
Because of what Jesus accomplished when He died on the cross, our sin is forgiven and no longer remembered. Notice what Isaiah 43:25 says, “I — yes,
I alone — will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” Since God doesn’t remember our sins then we should forget
the past too.
What’s more Paul says, “No condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are ‘in’ Jesus Christ. For the new spiritual principle of life ‘in’ Christ
Jesus lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death” (Romans 8:1 Phillips).
There is nothing profitable that comes from regretting the past ─ we cannot change the past. However, we can learn from it. Regret only brings us grief
and sorrow. As a Christian, we should never yield to grief and sorrow because Jesus bore it on the cross. Notice Isaiah 53:4, 5:
“Surely our griefs He himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced
through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”
Jesus not only bore our sins, but He bore our grief and sorrow as well. We could say He bore our regret. It would be an injustice if Jesus paid the price
for something and we had to suffer with it too. Resist regret every day and look to the future!
