Looking Back At Life Without Regrets
A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, March 30th, 2020, by Evangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK Most Christians find themselves living between the “regrets of yesterday” and the “worries of tomorrow”. Anyone familiar with the Scripture knows that this is not a part of God’s plan. In fact, the believer is to forget the past and press on without anxiety. You see, the not-so-good decisions in our lives can stay with us for years. And even after the effects have worn off, regrets can remain. It’s so easy to go back and relive memories that we aren’t proud of. And one of the biggest ways that Satan tries to get at us all is with regret. But thankfully, there are steps we can take to live without regrets. You can take solace in knowing your past does not define who you are or what God is going to do in your future. This is a message on maximising our time on earth by redeeming the time. You may ask, is it possible to live a life where you don’t have any regrets at the end? And the answer is, it’s possible. How do we do that? It’s about maximising the time that we have on this earth. And how do we maximise the time that we have on this earth? It is simply by redeeming the time. Redeeming the time is to take ownership of our time. It’s about not being distracted in life, but taking control of our time. That will enable you to live with no regrets. Let’s turn our Bibles to 2 Tim 4. I’m going to read verses 5 to 8. The apostle Paul writing to Timothy said: “5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:5-8). “The time for my departure is near”. So, here’s the thing nobody wants to hear – my life is being poured out, the time for my departure is near, my life has come to an end. The reality, however, is that we are all going to die one day. So, it’s not a question of if we’re going to die or when we’re going to die. The true thing that I want to address is how we die. In other words, what legacy are we leaving, what fruits are we leaving behind to impact our generation? When our time to pass from this life to the next life comes, will we have any regrets about how we lived? It’s possible to live for all of eternity, being proud of the life that we lived and being happy with the life that we lived. Paul reminds me of myself, and he reminds me of so many people because when it comes to the time for our departure, what will we do? What did Paul say? What did he do? Did he pray for more time? Paul didn’t pray for more time, He didn’t pray that he wanted more money, he didn’t pray for all of the things that we may think are necessary to chase after, what we call worldly success. When Paul was at the end of his life, the only thing he could say was, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8). If you were to be near the end of your life today, will you say I wished I had more time? When Paul was about to transfer from this life to the next one, the only thing on his heart was, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. I just want us to be able to meet our end, or transfer from this life to the next without wishing we have more time. And so, if there’s something that we need to do, we should do it today. If there’s someone that you love, and you haven’t told them that you love them, you should tell them you love them today. Tell them you believe in them today. Give them encouraging words today. If there’s someone that you need to forgive today, then forgive them today. Live every day like it’s your last day. That’s how you redeem the time. Live every moment to the maximum and maximize every moment you have in this life, because this life is precious and this life is not promised. We’re not going to live forever. We have a limited time on this earth. And therefore, something that’s limited is precious because it’s not unlimited – it’s not like you can just get more and more of it. There’s a set amount of time we have on this earth and that makes it precious, so we should live with our end in mind. We can look back at our lives and not have any regrets because we all have seasons of opportunities in this life. Why are some people living higher lives, and for others, life is a struggle after struggle? They are always crawling. You may be thinking, how come someone else’s life just seems to be going up high and headed to the top and I am always in a