By: Carole L. Haines
It’s interesting how God begins to reveal truth to us in one area, and then, we find He is saying, “But let’s deal with this first.” I was beginning a New Series on how God sees us, when He revealed a truth to me about myself that needed tending to. I began sharing about it with my interactive prayer through Psalm 51, and yesterday I shared about His conviction over my sin of ignoring Him. His gentle correction of this sin has been such a blessing, it has led me to believe He wants me to share a couple things about the gifts of conviction and confession.
I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:9-10)
I have come to find God’s gentle conviction over any sin in my life as a very good thing. Conviction is not the sense of being sorry for getting caught in a sin. Conviction from God is what the above Scripture refers to as godly sorrow. It is a deep sense of our sinning against God Himself. David speaks of it in Psalm 51, vs 3-4.
“For I know my wrongdoings, and my sin is constantly before me.
Against You, and You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.”
There are two kinds of sorrow spoken about in the 2 Corinthians 7: godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Let’s look at the two.
1) Godly sorrow is being made sorrowful according to the Will of God and produces Three things.
- Produces a repentance
- It is a repentance without regrets
- It leads to salvation
2) Worldly sorrow simply leads to death.
God convicts us of sin in our lives so He can set us free from it. Sin separates us from fellowship with God and He desires to bring us into a close personal relationship with himself. Confession has been said to be the act of agreeing with God about our sin. What God says that’s it. We don’t try to rationalize, explain away or give excuses for our sin. When convicted, we simply agree with what God reveals within us.
This is Godly sorrow, and godly sorrow produces true repentance, where we are freed from three things. We are released from the actual sin, from the guilt and regrets associated with that sin, and then we are restored into that intimate fellowship with God.
Isn’t our God so good, to love us too much to leave us wallowing in the muck and mire we wander into sometimes? All praise to Our God, who loves us enough to convict us, lead us into confession, bring us to repentance, deliver us from regrets and restore us. All praise to our Amazing God. Tomorrow we will explore a little more about worldly sorrow. Until then, be Blessed and encouraged in the Lord, Dear Believer.
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