Resources/Articles
Buyer's Remorse
Did you ever buy something you later regretted purchasing? We all have. Just prior to making a purchase, you feel the surge of excitement from getting something new. After buying the item, there is the wave of remorse and guilt which comes crashing over you. Did I really need this? Should I have spent the money? What is my spouse going to say?
In Genesis 3, there is a story of “buyer’s remorse.” It began with the crafty serpent’s “sale’s pitch.” He persuaded Eve to doubt God’s word (v. 1). He then capitalized on her uncertainty by casting doubt on God’s character (vv. 4-5). He promised her eyes would “be opened” and she would become “like God” (v. 5). How intriguing and irresistible! Just pick it up and take it to the cashier. Pay for it and out the door she would go.
Eve ate. Adam ate. What the first man and woman got was not a bargain. They opened the door for sin to enter the world. Their eyes were opened all right. They saw what they had done. They used the fruit. They could not give it back. They did not become like God. They were upset with themselves, and their first act was to hide from God (vv. 7-8).
Sin has dire consequences. It always takes us away froM God. We regret it. The length of that regret determines if our sorrow leads us to repentance or hardens our hearts. True remorse will not let time ease the pain or make all types of justifications for why we did it. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret; but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). God in His mercy and grace clothed Adam and Eve in garments made from animal skins (v. 21). God will clothe us with a “new man” created after holiness and righteousness of truth (Ephesians 4:22-24), if our sorrow leads us to repent. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, shed His blood that we might be clothed with His righteousness without remorse!
