12/7/2020
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.”
In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul is writing to the church about how joyful he is that they had repented. Paul had written to them honestly about the way they should live as believers in Christ Jesus, and they had truly heard his words and were convicted of sin. Although it was Paul’s words that spoke truth into their hearts, their repentance was the work of the Holy Spirit. Verses 8-11: “Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves not regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.”
Sin, as the Bible tells us, does not change or evolve with time. Yes, in today’s world we tend to have an “a-la-carte” approach to our sin. We have moved over to choosing what we believe is sin as filtered through our own beliefs or voices of society. Sometimes these voices can be louder than God’s and lead us down the path to death. We have, in many ways, lost the earnestness around sin. We are encouraged, through our current culture, to accept that which is sin in the eyes of God. How did we get to this place, dear reader? It is the “frog in the slow boiling pot” analogy. The more subtly and slowly the heat is turned up, the more accustomed to it we become, and that becomes our demise. God’s people, unfortunately, have remained largely silent as the heat has slowly been turned up. Now we live in a world where we are looked at as hateful, judgmental people for speaking any kind of truth about sin. Even when we do speak and use our Bibles as reference, we are told it is an ancient text and not for today’s world. Oh, how far our world has fallen.
We know what our Savior endured to forgive mankind of our sin, but we also know that it is up to each person to repent and seek forgiveness. Chambers, like Paul, reminds us of this eternal truth: “Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses man’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God—‘against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.’” Why are we, dear reader, more concerned about what people think of us than we are about what God thinks of us? Why do we remain silent when, as believers, our purpose is to boldly share the truth of the Gospel? Why do we hide our light to please and indulge those around us instead of focusing on God’s truth? Looking at sin, as God tells us it is through His Word, certainly is painful and brings sorrow to a person’s soul, but repentance is the only true way to peace, joy, and everlasting life.
“The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man’s respectable goodness: then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscience repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way around. ~Oswald Chambers
No comments:
Post a Comment