Hello and welcome to God Today. I am Jono Hall. I am a part of the leadership team here at the International House of Prayer. I want to share with you for the next few minutes about living without regret.
Many people have heard of a gentleman in the 1700s – a guy called Jonathan Edwards. He was one of the leaders of the first Great Awakening here in America. An amazing mind, but a guy that had a heart for the Lord. As a young man, he came up with 70 resolutions. Those are helpful resolutions for many of us to look at. One of the resolutions read like this, he said, “I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live if they were to live their lives over again. Therefore, I am resolved that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done supposing I live to old age.”
I want to encourage us this morning, as we think forward in our lives as if we are old people. Can we live in a way that we will not have any regret on that day when we are going to go on the age to come, when we are going to pass over and meet the Lord? I want to encourage you. As you think about the next years of your life, what are the things that are going to make you not live without regrets? Is it about achievements? Is it about things that you might gain? Well, those things come and they go. But, I want to encourage you in two areas. 1) In your love for the Lord. 2) In your love for those around you.
The first and the second great commandments. Now I really want to highlight the second one. The second commandment is about a love for those around us. A love for our family, a love for our friends, a love for our co-workers. Jesus, in John 13:34, He says, “I give you a new command that you would love your brothers and sisters. This is how the christians of the early church were known because of their love for each other. I want to encourage you – are you known for your love? Are you known for those relationships? Things can come and go, achievements can come and go, but the relationships of those who are around us, they last. I want to encourage you as you think of your christian walk to actually ask for the love of the Lord to come into you and then flow out of you. All of the spiritual gifts of the Lord gives us, are actually to be given away. I want to encourage you today. Think about the second commandment. Let me pray for you. Father, I pray for those who are joining us on God Today. That, Lord, your love would abound in them today to those around. In Jesus’ name.