Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.

2 Corinthians 7:9

Recommended Reading

2 Corinthians 7:8-13

Sometimes when a well-known person—athlete, celebrity, politician, religious leader—makes a public apology, it begs the question: Are they truly sorry or sorry they were found out? Only God knows, of course. Said another way, if people (including us) are sorry for sins, shouldn’t they come forth on their own before they are called out?

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about this matter, saying that “godly sorrow produces repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:10). That is, when we are truly sorry about something, it will be evidenced by our repentance—which includes confession, asking forgiveness, and restitution where needed. There is a false kind of sorrow—the “sorrow of the world” Paul called it. And that sorrow leads not to repentance but to “death.” Yes, sins and errors of judgment are embarrassing and sometimes shameful. But when their magnitude is truly realized, godly sorrow always leads to repentance—a change of mind and direction.

Let sorrow for sin bear its proper fruit—repentance that leads you back to God.

Christianity starts with repentance.

1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Read-Thru-the-Bible

2 Samuel 12 – 13

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/