READ: PSALM 103:12; ROMANS 3:21-26; 2 CORINTHIANS 7:10; EPHESIANS 2:8-10

Regret: everyone experiences it at some point. I recently sold my truck, before I really needed to, at a price that was too low. And, afterward, I was full of regret. I had no plan for what I was going to buy to replace it, which led me to spiral into fearful desperation. I knew I had just made one bad decision. How could I make another major decision—what car to buy and how much to spend?

My situation isn’t new or unusual. In Genesis 1–3, the story of the first people, Adam and Eve, is characterized by regret. They sinned against God, rejecting His love and doing what He’d explicitly told them not to do. They were guilty, and, therefore, they experienced the regret of sin.

The Bible is littered with similar stories. Consider David’s lust and murder, Esau’s birthright sale, Jonah’s bitterness, Thomas’s unbelief, Peter’s pride, Judas’s betrayal…the list goes on and on. Some of those individuals experienced repentance and healing for their regret; some didn’t. The difference in whether someone found healing or not is simple: grace.

We often live under the delusion that personal perfection is a possibility. But over and over, as sinful and guilty people in need of a Savior, we are confronted with our failures and flaws. No amount of education or training will rid us of these qualities.

Thankfully, there is hope. Romans 5:20 tells us, “Where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more.” That is good news indeed for flawed people. The grace of Christ gives us hope. His sacrificial death took God’s just wrath for our sin. So, the moment we were united to Jesus by faith through His grace, our sins were nailed to the cross and we received Jesus’s perfect righteousness. Our sins are washed away in the flood of Christ’s forgiveness. They are gone forever and have lost their hold on us. No regret can separate us from God’s love. • Mike Hurley

• What kinds of regrets have you been carrying? Are they regrets over sins, like hatred, or merely unwise decisions, like selling something before you thought through all the factors?

• We’ve all done things we later regretted. Yet God is so merciful to us that even when we mess up, He extends help. This is the hope of the gospel—when we were dead in our sin, helpless to save ourselves, Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to save us (for more about this good news, see our "Know Jesus" page). And even after we’ve put our trust in Jesus, He continues to show us mercy when we mess up. Consider taking some time to talk to Him about any regrets that come to mind.

But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more. Romans 5:20 (CSB)