Good Morning All,
2 Corinthians 7:10; “For
godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,
whereas worldly grief produces death.”
How many times in a day do you say, “I’m
sorry”? For some of us, it might not be
that many but for some it might be quite a lot.
If we are in a crowded area, or if we are having trouble understanding
what is being said or meant, you might say it often. If you forget you were going to pick up your
spouse after work, you might say it real often.
If the planned outcome of an event fails miserably, you might say it
often. We can say the words, “I’m sorry”
but do we mean it?
For a lot of people, when it comes to
confessing their sins, they say I’m sorry.
In one of our confession of sins we even use the phrase that we are
“heartily sorry for them (our sins)”.
Yet is that enough?
It is a start. To be sorry means to feel bad, to have a pain
in our heart, something that causes us to squirm a little. We feel in our stomach that something is
amiss. However, being sorry is usually a
temporary condition. We might feel
guilty for quite a while, but we may not feel sorry. Sorry involves some empathy for the one who
we sinned against. Guilt is an internal
emotion.
The thing to remember is that Jesus
suffered and died for you. He didn’t die
so that you would feel sorry; he died that you might live a new life. He died that you would be changed, made a new
creation. He died that you might change
from the sinful creature that you were into the redeemed child that you are. Part of this is being sorry for your sins,
truly sorry; but the other part is being penitent, knowing that we need the
Spirit to change us. To be penitent
means to “turn away from” or “turn around.”
When we sin, we have our backs to God.
When we are penitent, we turn back toward God and away from our
sins.
This change frees us from our guilt; it
frees us from the devil’s snide comments designed to make us feel bad. As our verse says, godly grief, the kind of
grief which we experience when are truly sorry for our sins, leads us to
repentance. Repentance is the turning
away from sin by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit in our life in our
heart. We are changed by faith and have
the gift of salvation.
For we receive God’s forgiveness because
he loves us. When we repent, we receive
and experience that forgiveness in our hearts and lives. This godly repentance shows us the way to
salvation, which we have because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.
Dear
Father, in heaven, often our hearts are heavy with sorrow but we lack true
repentance. Lead us into a life where we
are penitent and longing to return to you.
Keep us in your arms and in your watchful eye. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor
Bret
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