“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10
There is a song with the lyrics “Regrets, I’ve had a few but then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption” that was made famous by Frank Sinatra. This sinful world that we live in has many different words for sin and most of them are used to mask the real meaning. There are three definitions for the word ‘regret’; to feel sorry and sad about something previously done, used as a polite expression of sorrow when making an apology or to feel sadness about something or a sense of loss.
The Haitian word for ‘sin’ is ‘peche’ and the translation for ‘regret’ is regret; I used it on numerous occasions when my North American culture overstepped my guests’ culture or when brothers from North America would impose their desires, no matter how wrong, on my Haitian brothers and sisters. Satan delights when we use words to mask sinful acts and place the blame on others instead of ourselves or him. Make no mistake, the two girls in the attached photo may appear to be innocent but they are sinners. If you can see a reflection in your monitor, that person is also sinful and unclean. We have all had a lot of regrets, too many to mention and we continue to do things for which we are hopefully sorry each day.
These two girls from Gonaives and you and I have a Savior whose death on the cross has redeemed us from our sinful activities. Regrets? I wish that I would have skipped dinner last night and gave the twenty dollars it cost me to help feed more young missionaries in Haiti. Thank you for joining me to help prepare more missionaries in Haiti to bring more people trapped in the lies of the vodou priest to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus.
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay