Godly Sorrow

It is important for us to grasp fully the difference between godly and worldly sorrow. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 7 that “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

Godly sorrow is part of the process that leads us to repentance. It is a work of the Holy Spirit who brings illumination of the word and then conviction which can cause us to be deeply sorrowful about our sin.

Whereas both sorrows are caused by the illumination of our sinfulness by various means, one leads to life and the other causes no change in our understanding & actions and continues to death. Worldly sorrow only considers how it affects us, we may be embarrassed, humiliated even suffer pain or rejection from any disclosure, however our primary concern through all this remains of how it affects me. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, is the realization that our behaviour is sinful and our sin is an offence against a holy God. King David states when confronted by the prophet Nathan as to his adultery and murder in Ps 51:4 "Against you (God), you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”.

This does not negate the responsibility to the people we hurt by our sin and restitution may be required. However, our sin is primarily against God whose laws we have broken. If we recognize this and turn to God (1 John 1:9) it will lead us to true repentance which will lead through faith to life.

Let us be mindful that we demonstrate the right kind of sorrow when confronted with sin in our lives.