Do you have any regrets in life? Thankful for reconciliation in Jesus

Do you have any regrets in life? Please consider this question and read below.

On Tuesday noon, February 2, St. John member Dave Nufer spoke at the meeting of my Palmer Kiwanis Club. After a light-hearted and informational presentation about Ground Hog Day, Dave then gave heart-felt encouragement to club members, calling on them to cherish the relationships we have. He pointed out that COVID has put a strain on relationships. Dave encouraged the club to hold relationships as valuable and to work to keep them alive. Dave pointed the club to our Lord who loves us and created us for relationships.

Jesus himself was asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Here was Jesus’ response. “29 The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28 b – 31) We do love and serve God by loving others.

You know the strain this pandemic has caused for families and friends, on businesses and churches. Many people are staying at home, following advice they received. I know some families who did not gather at Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas, because of disease concerns. Many people are not going out into groups in public, not going to worship services, or to stores. We do have technology to keep in touch through phones and computers, but it is not the same as being together in person. Sadly, I recently heard someone say, “I can’t wait to give my mom a hug again.”

Then, on Tuesday night I showed my wife a new belt I had purchased. I pointed out that the old belt I had been using was frayed and falling apart. Kathy replied naturally, “Things wear out. It was time for a new belt.” But, she has also pointed out how long I keep many of my clothes and other possessions. In fact, I have a jacket and coat that are over 30 years old. They belonged to my dad’s first cousin, Robert Stender. Robert passed away and these items of clothing were given to me by my cousin’s daughters in 1991 as our family was driving to Alaska. So, these items truly are over 30 years old. That’s a long time to keep a jacket or a shirt even though I recently wore them. It is not that I need these two items of clothing, I have many others like them. But, not only do I tend to keep things until they totally wear out, this shirt and jacket are a reminder of Robert. He was family and I cared about him – I still care about him. I guess I keep this shirt and this jacket because of that family love.

Following Dave’s presentation, and this conversation with my wife, I got to thinking how precious the people in our lives are. I am not the most demonstrative person when it comes to speaking of love. But, I deeply care for my wife, my children, and grandchildren. I care about my family in the rest of the country, whether in Florida, New England, or even Washington. I have friends I cherish whom I have met in various ways. And, I truly cannot remember a member of one of the churches I have attended whom I didn’t care for in some way.

Now please consider the question above again. Do you have any regrets in life? I’ve heard it said that you only regret the choices you did not take advantage of in life. Personally, I don’t have those regrets. But, I do know that in my life I have found ways, often unintentionally, to harm relationships, to cause pain to people I care about. I’ve hurt family; ask my brothers and sister, or my wife and children. I’ve hurt friends. Even though the job of pastor is to care for the lambs of Jesus, I do regret times I have hurt the people of God. You see, we love God by loving others. God made us for relationships. Other people are precious gifts of God. My regrets are times that I have hurt others God put into my life.

God calls us to the truth of what Dave encouraged. Our most important relationship is with our Lord. In addition, it is worth the effort to work on relationships with others. In 2 Corinthians God inspired Paul to write to a church with whom he had some disagreements, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God has loved us in Creation, and called us back to His love by the sacrificial suffering and death of His Son, Jesus. Because we are forgiven, we can forgive. Because we are reconciled to God, we can work toward reconciliation with others. Reconciliation may seem impossible, but is possible for a follower of Jesus. Thankfully, I know this truth from personal experience.

Thanks, Dave, for the reminder of how important other people are in our life. We are made for one another. Thank you, Lord, for healing our relationship with you in Jesus. Heavenly Father, please help each of us in our ministry of reconciliation.