How painful is the thought expressed by one of the great poets, John Greenleaf Whittier:<\/p>\n
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
\nThe saddest are these: ‘It might have been!'”<\/blockquote>\nMany a person has thrown away his life in drug addiction, (including alcohol). Numerous are those who have thrown away their marriages by becoming involved with others. Parents have often lost their children by neglecting them or even granting them excessive freedom. Many are those who have thrown away a good name by some ungodly behavior. Do you not suppose that a vast majority of these later in life have shed tears of bitter remorse as they have thought of “what might have been”? It is too late, however, for all has been lost.<\/p>\n
This bitter lament is found also in the Bible. It was expressed by the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah as he sadly exclaimed, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved<\/em>” (Jeremiah 8:20). God had given His people ample time to repent and turn from their idolatrous, immoral ways. They had not shown any inclination to respond appropriately to His offers of mercy. When God was no longer willing to tolerate their wickedness, the Babylonian captivity became His means of teaching them a 70-year lesson. No doubt there were times in Babylon when they mourned and wept over “what might have been” if they had only listened to the voices of the prophets who had warned them.<\/p>\n
Such lessons ought not to fall on deaf ears today. That individual who has stopped serving the Lord faithfully will one day realize what he has given up. It may be too late then to do anything about it. My dear wayward brother or sister, before the “harvest is past” and the “summer is ended,” you ought to take advantage of a merciful God’s offer of pardon by repentance, confession, and prayer. Better that, by far, than to stand condemned in the judgment and have to think of “what might have been.”<\/p>\n
That individual, too, who has never obeyed the gospel should ponder seriously what hell is like (according to God’s word) and submit himself to the rule of Christ in faith, repentance, confession, and baptism before it is too late to do so. Far better than to be separated eternally from God and think of “what might have been.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Barney L. Keith How painful is the thought expressed by one of the great poets, John Greenleaf Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’” Many a person has thrown away his life in drug addiction, (including alcohol). Numerous are those who have thrown…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[372,50],"class_list":["post-60905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-drugs","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55156,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-beer-can\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":0},"title":"The Beer Can","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton It was lying on the side of the road on the corner to my house. A single beer can was discarded as a piece of trash by a person who had used its contents to fill a pleasure and then thrown out the window. I have seen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/crushedcan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23987,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-help-an-abused-girl-who-has-been-thrown-out-of-her-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":1},"title":"How can I help an abused girl who has been thrown out of her home?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a college student who's a leader in my church's high school ministry. One girl recently revealed to me, while on a mission's trip, that she was abused by her parents, culminating in her being thrown out of the house at the age of 16. We talked and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-say-there-is-no-sin-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":2},"title":"Can we say there is no sin in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We read that the devil and his angels were cast down because of rebellion. In light of this passage, can we say there is no sin in heaven? I've been confronted with this question. Answer: \"And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/overcoming-bitterness\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":3},"title":"Overcoming Bitterness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lawrence Kelley \"So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55554,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mara-or-naomi\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":4},"title":"Mara or Naomi?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ruth 1:19-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life has its ups and downs. How do you respond? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you rail at life and God? Do you decide life is a misery? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Naomi had a hard life. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Famine caused her family to move to a foreign country - Ruth 1:1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-remission-of-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":5},"title":"The Remission of Sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by J. W. McGarvey Sermons by McGarvey, p. 56-57. The same word in Greek is translated remission that is translated forgiveness. The two English words, remission and forgiveness, are used interchangeably, and they mean the same thing. So then, if you are ever again in any confusion of thought about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}