Dr Paul Allen

Relief and confidence often immediately follow when we’ve finally made a tough decision. After spending days, weeks, or maybe even months gathering information, listening to counsel, and processing with the Lord in prayer, we’ve finally come to the decision. We’ve signed the job contract, placed the down payment on the home, or gone through the church membership class. While I wish I could say those moments of relief on the other side of decision-making steadily remain, they’re often overshadowed by an enemy: fear. “What if” questions pop into our minds at the most inopportune times. What if I chose to become a member at the wrong church? What if I joined the wrong sorority or chose the wrong major? What if I was missing a very important piece of information when I made my decision? What if I thought I was listening to the Lord’s guidance, but I was really chasing the approval of my trusted advisors? Fearful Frames Fear steals focus from God’s ability and wisdom, wrongfully placing a m

Regret wouldn’t be necessary if we had time machines . We could go back and avoid past failures. If those failures were just mistakes, we would have a knowledge of the future to make better choices. If those failures were outright sin, we could see future consequences that would help us escape the grip of temptation. Failure would become obsolete, and so would the self-loathing that comes with it. Seriously, why don’t we have time machines? We are creatures bound to our past. We are creatures who are always responding to our past in the present. Regret is a response. This observation will help us approach the topic biblically. This post is part of a series that attempts to show how Scripture provides a framework for addressing different ways that our hearts respond to the world. My introductory post laid out our guiding principle: God designed people to respond from the heart to the unique situations in which He places them. The question this post addresses is, how should we unders