Remorse, regret, or repentance?

Remorse, regret, or repentance?

14 pax turned up at Chic Fil A this morning to discuss section 5 or the book “Fight” by Craig Groeschel. The book has been a close look at the life of Samson and the potential he had been given by God and yet how his incredibly week will caused him all kinds of trouble.
Stone Cold opened us up by discussing “The Rising Cost of Regret” and how Samson must have looked back at his life and wished he would have made different choices. Horsehead made a great point in that regret is a dangerous place to live and that we should really focus on the repentance factor and that should spur as forward rather than being stuck in the past. YHC mentioned that sometimes looking back at our past is ok if we are doing so with a grateful heart and understanding the extent of the forgiveness that has been given to us through Christ. Busch then added that at no point should our past cause us shame if we have laid it out there to be forgiven as it has been cast “as far as the east is to the west” and it is the enemy’s tactic to bring things back to condemn us. The discussion then moved to the fact that so often we are reminded of our past and our mistakes and how these things can haunt us. Lab Rat asked a question: are we able to come to repentance without first going through regret and remorse? Minimum then brought to light a great verse in 2 Corinthians 7:10 which states “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Two very different outcomes…
Cottontail then read Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul writes about how we are made alive in Christ after once being dead in our sins and gratifying the cravings of our flesh. Our F3 Bible scholar (!) then gave us a great visual: are we, as men, either a faucet or a drain? Are we a faucet connected to the source by having a relationship with our Savior and having the Word as our filter? Or are we a drain with our thoughts in the gutter and allowing the mess of life overwhelm us?
Stone Cold then brought it back to Samson and the fact that even though he had screwed up so many times he asked God for strength one more time. Despite the dire circumstances he had now found himself in God was able to use him because he cried out. “With one last push, he (Samson) fulfilled his purpose: taking the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines. So no matter what you have done, God is not finished with you yet. Ask him for one more chance. And God might do more through the next chapter of your life than in all of the previous ones combined.”

Amen

We are about to start a new book and we are open to suggestions. Also we would love for any new guys to come and join our study whether you can make it once a month or every time. All are welcome. I wanted to write this back blast to let you know what we are doing and the topics we discuss. The books are used as a vehicle to talk about life and faith and to ultimately strengthen us as we band together. Come one come all and if we need to split up the group because we have too many we will.

Cheers,

BD