Ep 306 – 2 Corinthians 7

There is a kind of sorrow that is nothing more than feeling sorry for yourself. You regret what has happened because of something you have done. It has thrown a wrench into your life and made things difficult for you. It has resulted in alienation from others or even open hostility. You regret what you have done because you don’t like the ramifications. But then there is the feeling of sorrow over what you have done. That is something different altogether. That kind of sorrow is not tied to the ramifications of your actions, but to the action itself. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul is going to deal with just how vastly different these two kinds of sorrow really are. He will refer to one as worldly sorrow and the other as godly sorrow. And for the believer, there is only one option, because worldly sorrow lacks repentance. It comes with only regret. And regret never results in life change. At least not for long. So, Paul is going to give the Corinthians a brief, but important lesson on what godly sorrow looks like and why it is so important in the life of the believer. At the end of the day, God is looking for true life change. He wants to produce in us a sorrow that will not only regret our sinful actions, but desire to repent of them once and for all. Because that kind of sorrow produces life, joy and peace with God.