Godly Sorrow

When I was in first grade recess was not just a time for swings and monkey bars, it was a time for war.  Another boy, who for some unknown reason was my sworn enemy, and I would gather up our friends and do battle.  It was mostly a lot of running at each other culminating in pushing, shoving and throwing the other guy down.

Our teacher had enough one day and had me and my arch enemy stand face to face and fight it out.  We were supposed to learn something from the fray but a I got from it was a chance to pound on a kid that had been a burr in my saddle.  At the end, she made us shake hands and say we were sorry.  I can't say what was going on in his head but for me, I was only sorry I didn't have another few minutes to pound on him.

We've all had those times when we had to say we were sorry when we were not.  And, we've had times when we were sorry for how things turned out but not really changed in our attitude about our own actions, except for the pain its caused us.  For instance, most inmates in prison are sorry for how things turned out and may even regret having done what landed them there.  But when released, most return to a life of crime, most have not changed.

Biblical, effective sorrow is different..."Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Cor 7:10).  Godly sorrow stems from our regret of having failed God, regardless of the outcome or whether we got caught.  It leads to a repentence or changing of mind that will result in a change of thoughts and actions.  

Worldly sorrow, stemming from the pain you feel, leaves you unchanged but godly sorrow, stemming from the pain God feels, transforms us.  Jus' Sayn.