(5:11,12) Regret or Reward?

(Prov 5:11,12 MSG) You don't want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me?  Why did I reject a disciplined life?

This morning we continue our series, “Unlocking the Power of Proverbs – Walking in the Wisdom of God,” by continuing with Solomon’s teaching on the immoral woman.  In our last message we learned that if we succumb to the temptation of the immoral woman, if we partake of and live in the life of sin, we open ourselves up the risk of financial ruin.  Not only that, in this text he tell us that our bodies can be affected.  Our text says that we can wind up, at the end of our life, as nothing but sin and bones.  Another translation of verse 11 says, “In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body.”  Is this the way you want to end your life?  Do you want your final days to be days of groaning, complaining, and regrets?  Do you want to have to look back over your life and remorse over the life you could have had?  The life of sin leads to regret, disappointment, despair, and overall dissatisfaction.

As I prepared to go to sleep last night I watched a few minutes of an interview with a very famous woman, a billionaire, who in the past has openly confessed of how she has problems with agreeing with the God of the Bible and how she sees believes in a more universal god.  Without getting into specifics I will simply say that the interview was about her dissatisfaction with herself and her physical body.  She admitted that all the money and fame means nothing if she is not at peace with herself.  As I watched her I could do nothing but pray for, that she come into a true relationship with Jehovah, our God, through His Son, Jesus the Christ.  If she doesn’t, she will be like the countless of people that wind up on their deathbed full of regrets.  As they waste away the life they could have had, the life they should have had, flashes before their eyes.  For many of these people knew better, many of them heard the gospel, many of them knew the way of God, but for whatever reason they chose a different life.  They rejected obedience and they wound up missing out on the life that God wanted them to have.  They missed out on God’s best.

Yesterday I mentioned Deuteronomy chapter 28.  That chapter is an awesome example of the choice God lays out for us.  It is the choice to obey or disobey; the choice to live the life of discipline and righteousness or to live the life of reckless abandon and sin.  Whatever our decision, whatever our choice, we will reap the outcome of it.  What conversation do you want to have with your children while you are on your death bed?  Do you want to tell them NOT to be like you?  Do you want to have to urge them to avoid the path that you chose?  Do you want them to listen as you run through your list of regrets?  Or do you want to be ready to transition from earth to glory, from time to eternity, from labor to reward?  Do you want them to gather around as you lay hands on them and bless them?  Knowing that you have lived a Godly life before them; an example of righteousness, virtue, and truth.  Take a moment to picture the scene in your mind.  Which scene do you want to live out, the one or regret or the one of reward? 

So what does this mean to you today?  It means that, like I often say, the choice is yours.  The fact that you are able to read this email, that you are still living, that blood is still flowing in your veins, that air is still flowing through your lungs, is evidence that God is not through with you.  So maybe you haven’t been the person you should be.  Maybe you have rejected Godly discipline in the past.  If that is you, then make a decision, right now, to change your life forever.  Walk in obedience, ask the Father to help you to develop discipline, and allow the love of God to make the ultimate difference TO you, and then THROUGH you!

Confession for this day:  Father, yesterday ended last night.  I am looking forward and not backward.  Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  I declare, by faith, that I live the life of love, discipline, and obedience that You desire for me to live.  I walk as an upright example for my children and others.  You with me and I with You, together we make a difference.  No more regrets!  Forward ever, backward never!  In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

This is Today’s Word!  Apply it and Prosper!

Read all the messages from this series (Click Here).