Thought of the Day August 20, 2019 Godly sorrow
Confronted
with his sin of adultery, David wept bitterly before the Lord in repentance.
After denying Jesus three times, Peter, seeing the compassion of Jesus, wept
over his sins of betrayal. Paul was not proud of his arrogant self-righteousness
that concurred in the death of Stephen and the arrest of many followers of the
Way. In 1 Timothy 1:13 with deep repentance, he shamefully acknowledges: “I was formerly a
blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”
The first thing these illustrations show us is that each
acknowledged their sin, repented before the Lord and sought to change their
lives. Isaiah says: "These are the ones I
look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who
tremble at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).
When we
so act, Paul calls this godly sorrow. Paul
writes in 2
Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation, not to be regretted.” Godly sorrow
comes when we rightly see ourselves in the light of the Word of God and see how
short we fall in relation to divine nature – God’s nature.
Godly sorrow is
accompanied by an acknowledgment of my own sin or lack, and produces
repentance, which helps me advance on the way of holiness and transformation. This
godly sorrow is a grace from the Holy Spirit in the heart of a convicted sinner.
About the Author
0 comments