‘Rise, let us be going.’ – Matthew 26:46
Regret is the root of despair. We regret when we do not do something that we know we should have done. We regret when we do something we know we should not have done. In this way, inaction, or false action, is just as powerful a negative force as action and right action are positive.
The important thing to remember here is that once an action or an inaction has left your hand, it cannot be brought back. The moment passes, for better or worse, and we are left to deal with it. So how DO we deal with it?
If we do not give all things to God, our failures as well as our successes, we run into two very different risks rooted in one very similar fault. Failures lead us to despair (as mentioned above) and destructively inhibit our ability to proceed, likely resulting in more failures or an outright inability to act at all. Successes, when glory is not given to Him, lead us to the trappings of self-righteousness and set us up for the inevitable valley that follows the peak. Both of these maladies are caused by the selfishness found at the very heart of all sin. This egotism causes us to take great pride in our accomplishments, as though we had no providence with us at all and to take all blame for our failures.
Instead, we should be giving ALL things to God, both good and bad. When we fail, we cannot get it back. Thus, rather than despair, we are to learn why things went wrong or why we failed to act and correct the problem so that we do not repeat it. Remember that a failure is only a mistake if we do not learn a lesson from it. So, Arise! Move forward. Accept the forgiveness that has been granted through the Atonement of sins by Christ Jesus and let us be going. Move on to the next thing, allowing Christ to lead you.
Regret is the root of despair. We regret when we do not do something that we know we should have done. We regret when we do something we know we should not have done. In this way, inaction, or false action, is just as powerful a negative force as action and right action are positive.
The important thing to remember here is that once an action or an inaction has left your hand, it cannot be brought back. The moment passes, for better or worse, and we are left to deal with it. So how DO we deal with it?
If we do not give all things to God, our failures as well as our successes, we run into two very different risks rooted in one very similar fault. Failures lead us to despair (as mentioned above) and destructively inhibit our ability to proceed, likely resulting in more failures or an outright inability to act at all. Successes, when glory is not given to Him, lead us to the trappings of self-righteousness and set us up for the inevitable valley that follows the peak. Both of these maladies are caused by the selfishness found at the very heart of all sin. This egotism causes us to take great pride in our accomplishments, as though we had no providence with us at all and to take all blame for our failures.
Instead, we should be giving ALL things to God, both good and bad. When we fail, we cannot get it back. Thus, rather than despair, we are to learn why things went wrong or why we failed to act and correct the problem so that we do not repeat it. Remember that a failure is only a mistake if we do not learn a lesson from it. So, Arise! Move forward. Accept the forgiveness that has been granted through the Atonement of sins by Christ Jesus and let us be going. Move on to the next thing, allowing Christ to lead you.
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