Two Sorrows

Saturday evening I attended my first Teens for Christ rally and thoroughly enjoyed it.   The theme was on abstinence and this message was presented using God-honoring and creative methods.  I was especially pleased to see a clear presentation of the Gospel given.

One of the verses that we read aloud was II Corinthians 7:10:

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

• Godly sorrow causes a change of lifestyle; a departure from pet sins.
• Godly sorrow causes us to turn our eyes from self to God.
• Godly sorrow brings us to our knees as we recognize our own unholiness.
• Godly sorrow brings the sinner closer to God.
• Godly sorrow is a requirement for salvation.  It is a step toward repentance. No one can be saved if the Holy Spirit has not convicted them and caused them to be sorry for their sins against God. 

 I discovered A.W. Pink wrote some excellent words on this topic:

This “godly sorrow” is produced by Divine power. It is essentially a supernatural grace. No man is born with godly sorrow in his heart as he is born with a tongue in his head. No, it is a seed of God’s own setting, a flower of His planting. It is a heavenly offspring. “God maketh my heart soft” said holy Job (23:16), for none but He can make the heart tender under a sight and sense of sin. Nature can easily make one weep over worldly crosses and losses, but only Divine grace can move us to mourn over sin. That godly sorrow to repentance is produced by the immediate operations of the Lord is clear from the order in “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh” (Jer. 31:19): note well it is not “after I turned,” but “after I was turned.” That is the language of one who has just been renewed, quickened afresh by the Word, and who now sees light in God’s light.

• Worldly sorrow is selfish.
• Worldly sorrow leads to disappointment at being caught, not to true repentance.
• Worldly sorrow is superficial.
• Worldly sorrow is found in those who have no hope.  

Some additional thoughts on worldly sorrow by A.W. Pink:

The sorrow of the world is the grief and mortification of disappointed worldlings, of those who know not God but whose trust is in themselves or in some arm of flesh. They have relied for prosperity from the world, and the world has sadly failed them. They have sought satisfaction from its broken cisterns, only to have their hopes dashed. The bitter springs from which their ambitions have proceeded are pride and carnal self-respect, and their motives and occasions for indulging the same are as manifold as the deceitful lusts of the flesh. But frustrated plans and defeated expectations sour and enrage, and nature’s greenness is turned into the drought of unrepentant grief. So far from leading the soul to God, it fills with wrath and enmity against Him. Its miserable subjects seek consolation from the world, endeavouring to drive away serious reflections by drowning themselves in its pleasures. 

My prayer is that godly sorrow will be found in my heart when I am confronted by God's Word, the Holy Spirit or the man of God regarding a sinful behavior in my life.