............Product of Sorrow

Paul writes to the Corinthians, 7:8-11:

For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it--for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while--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. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

God's word to us, His written letter to us can be quite confronting. It pierces to the deepest part of the soul and can bring us to our knees. I have thought at times that it is too hard to "do it right". Too hard to be all that God expects because I am constantly grieving over the sin that hinders me. The sin I choose to do. The sin I sometimes can't get past without some intent leading from the Holy Spirit. And it all brings me to great sorrow in my heart.

There are times when others, particularly my wonderful husband, make a comment to me that just seems to shed a light on a darkness within me. And ouch, it hurts. It's that same feeling that I get when I'm sitting in service on a Sunday morning and it as if the whole lesson preached was just for me, just to bring me to the altar for some cleansing.

I have often wished that I could keep everything about me to myself and never really have to deal with the not so pretty parts of my heart. But then as I read through this scripture today I realized why it is so important that I experience sorrow. It is critical for me to be unhappy with my sin because it brings me to a point of repentance. My sorrow is based on the will of God and protects me from suffering loss as I repent. I want to protect all that God has blessed me with. I want to be a good steward of it all in hopes that God will not withhold His blessings from me.

"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret."

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live a life in repentance to God that produces no regret. I certainly can not claim that now but I like to think it is possible. I want my sin to cause me to grieve so that I will be miserable until it is purged from me. Oh, how much more God could do with me!

I want to live a life as described in vs 11: earnestness, vindication, indignation, fear, longing, zeal,
avenging of wrong. What a powerful life that would be!

So it is my prayer that I would never be numb to the sorrow that sin brings. I encourage you to give thanks for the sorrow that brings a product of righteousness.