Godly sorrow can be defined as a deep, heartfelt grief for sinning against God. It leads to true repentance and salvation and is motivated by a desire to heal one’s relationship with God. It is a core part of making a radical change in one’s life. Worldly sorrow includes the shame of getting caught and the pain of punishment. It can lead to self-loathing or a desire to simply sin in secret. The result of worldly sorrow is spiritual death.
The key verses for this blog posting are 2 Corinthians 7: 8-10. Before getting into these specific verses, I would like to provide some background. Paul wrote two letters to the members of the Church of Corinth (1st and 2nd Corinthians). In the first letter, he called them out for: using human wisdom instead of spiritual wisdom, being jealous of one another, being divided, being spiritually prideful, judging others, engaging in sexual sin, not being disciplined, engaging in idolatry, amongst other things. Due to the severity of the first letter and the possible pain it would cause the people, Paul was conflicted emotionally (2 Corinthians 7:5-6); that was until he received report from Titus stating the people had received the letter well and had repented of their wrongdoing (2 Corinthians 7:7). This is where our key verses come into play. Second Corinthians 7:8-10 read, “I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks experience, results in spiritual death”. As you can see, Paul started off by telling the people that he was initially sorry for the severity of the letter due to the pain that it would cause, but he was glad that he sent it because it caused them to repent and change their ways. The people had experienced Godly sorrow.
Have you ever had your pastor, leader, or friend call you out for your wrongdoing as Paul did in his first letter? Did that particular sermon, counseling session, or dinner date conversation sound harsh but caused a change within you? Well, my friend, you have experienced Godly sorrow. But to be quite frank, a lot of us either have had or still have an issue with being corrected or held accountable for our actions. We have read about Jesus correcting His disciples, followers, crowds, and even the religious teachers. Sometimes, His correction was harsh or sarcastic; at other times, His correction was gentle. The situation dictated the type of correction. We have read verses like 2 Timothy 3:16 which tells us that Holy Spirit corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do right. And I can only speak for myself, but Holy Spirit’s correction doesn’t always sound good or feel good, but I know that God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). I believe that we have defined correcting “in love” as using gentle words that are appeasing to our flesh, emotions, mind, and heart. But to be honest, correcting out of love is not a feeling. If someone cares enough about you to have a tough conversation regarding your soul and eternal life, there should not be a question as to whether or not they love you. Every corrective conversation you may have will not always sound or feel good. But it should always lead you towards Godly sorrow and away from worldly sorrow.
Disclaimer: This posting is not a promotion of harsh, abusive-like correction.
Real Talk with Keve 