I don’t know about you, but at 49 years sexy, looking back I am well aware of the things I did wrong, the outcomes, the healing process to change my choices, and how Jesus tugged on my heart getting me to come back home.
The Book of Lamentations, although poetic, delves deeply into the psychological and emotional process we all go through when our choices bring consequences that force to get honest with ourselves.
But……
There is a distinctly different flavor between having regret versus having remorse that leads to repentance.
When I was still an active drug addict I often regretted my choices, like when I lost my job because I was unreliable, but come the weekend and I’d be making the very same choice to use drugs. Much like Israel, I kept going back to wrong choices that led to negative consequences. Israel kept abandoning God’s Way which led to their captivity in 586 BC.
Dr. Margalis Fjelstad Ph.D., LMFT, in ‘Psychology Today’, July 2015, explains the difference between regret and remorse.
To quote: ‘Regret has to do with wishing you hadn’t taken a particular action. Remorse involves admitting one’s own mistakes and taking responsibility for one’s actions. It creates a sense of guilt and sorrow for hurting someone else and leads to confession and true apology. It also moves the remorseful person to avoid doing the hurtful action again. Regret leads a person to avoid punishment in the future, while remorse leads to avoiding hurtful actions towards others in the future.’- https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/stop-caretaking-the-borderline-or-narcissist/201507/regret-vs-remorse%3famp
In Lamentations 2 vs 14, there is a profound life-lesson we need to get really honest about if we want to truly be God’s Children that live lives of repentance that returns us to God’s Way which our conditioning fights against.
By staying within the circles, cliques, yes-men/women groups, populist political narratives, neo-tribal ideologies, and code-of-thieves, people groups, we are fed the lies we want to hear to keep being fooled by those we want to fool us so that we feel like we belong. WE IGNORE RED FLAGS, until that niggly discomfort we experience in ourselves cannot be ignored. We typically, then bury that feeling with substance abuse, sex, materialism, of judgement. AND, we seek out religions, beliefs, or ideas that feed our itching ears with stuff that passifies our guilt/shame feelings with falsities to help us avoid the monster within us.
In Lamentations 2 vs 14, the false prophets lied about Israel’s coming destruction by giving them information to feed their ego, whilst the king beat and imprisoned God’s Prophet- Jeremiah- for telling them the truth about their need to have remorse that leads to repentance that returns to God’s Way.
In Lamentations 3 we see the shift from regret towards remorse-consciousness. The people start getting truly honest about personal responsibility that led to their demise.
When Jesus won my personal argument with Him, regarding homosexuality, when a 15 year genetic study proved that homosexuality is a psychological disorder and not a physical reality, I regretted that I didn’t trust God sooner, but immediately was truly remorseful about the fact that despite my beef with God, He answered my prayer. Certainly, I loved Him more. I had to get honest about the facts, and the fact that God loved me so much that He told me the truth about my sin.
This has led me read a ton of stuff to gain knowledge, understanding, and clarity about how homosexuality is formed in our minds. I fact, I am working on a self-evaluation manual to help others identify how same-sex attraction occurs, which can help us have tools to resist as we walk in submission to God’s Will, and obedience to His Love for us whose agenda is to save us.
I have been practicing celibacy for nearly 6 years to honour Jesus for saving a wretch like me, and I have never felt more loved, more accepted, and sexier than I do being surrendered to our Wonderful Father. There is something deeply profound that happens to us when we gain strength to not give our love and intimacy away at every whim. Our love, intimacy, and sex are rare as we are the only ones of ourselves. We can’t get our love from another, and visa versa. Our uniqueness has a flavour. God wants us to walk in that uniqueness growing in His Love so that He can use our lives to reach others for Him to save.
Our obedience to God as He transforms our lives draws others to return to God. We see this move from remorse, to repentance, and the desire to return to God in Lamentations 5 vs 1 & 21.
Interestingly, the people use the words ‘ancient glory’. Although they are speaking of the heyday of Israel, God’s Word calls God- ‘ancient of days’ (Daniel 7 vs 9).
Before Adam and Eve sinned, we were in the perfection God created us for in His Ancient of Days Holiness. We were then in the fullest ancient glory as we were in God’s Glory. Sadly, we know how the story went.
But…..
As you and I allow God’s Holy Spirit to move us from remorse via consequences, into repentance by changing our choices and behaviour to align with God’s Word, and ultimately to return us to obedience to God which ends in glorification as the heavenly bodies God plans for us, as Jesus is.t
To quote ‘Bradenton Herald’, ‘Down here, our bodies have been weakened by sin — but in heaven, all that will be behind us, because by His death and resurrection Christ conquered all sin and sickness and death. The Bible says that in heaven Christ “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).’ – https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bradenton.com/living/religion/article34506474.html
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