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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[372,50],"class_list":["post-60905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-drugs","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","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":24341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/overcoming-bitterness\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":1},"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":38006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-remission-of-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":17521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-we-be-judged-regarding-how-much-we-know-about-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":3},"title":"Will we be judged regarding how much we know about the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will we be judged regarding how much we know about the Bible? Answer: Judgment Day is not like taking a final exam in school. \"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was\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":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":4},"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":19263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-once-saved-always-saved-a-bible-doctrine\/","url_meta":{"origin":60905,"position":5},"title":"Is “Once Saved — Always Saved” a Bible Doctrine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant One of the more popular doctrines of certain denominations is that of \u201conce saved\u2014always saved.\u201d The idea is that once you have accepted Christ and had your sins taken away, you can never be lost, no matter what you do. The\u00a0Standard Manual for Baptist Churches states,\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":[]}],"_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}]}}