GodMaps– #53 Godly Sorrow

“For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; . . . I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance (metanoia); for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, . . . For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance (metanoia) without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7: 8-10 New American Standard Bible)

Paul states that he caused the Corinthians to be sorrowful and he did not regret it. Paul didn’t regret it because he knew that the sorrow they were doing would bring the Corinthians to repentance (a new state of thinking) because it was according to the will of God. When we sin, we should feel grief and sorrow, but decide that you will not allow the process of repenting to end in grief and sorrow! Get through the sorrow and think about it. Obtain God’s mind about the error of your thinking. All lies are sin—helpless, hopeless, worthless, shame, lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. All lies are sin! The only thing that matters is obtaining God’s think about it because God’s think is the truth and the truth sets us FREE!

When we have sorrow that the world gives to us, it only brings more sorrow. Pride, condemnation, legalism, and religion bring more sorrow that leads to death. Godly sorrow comes from awareness of the truth. Sorrow and grief come from the polarity between our sinful think and God’s righteous think. Sorrow lies between the two, and we stay in it until our sinful thinking is resolved. Truth gives us the awareness that we have planted fleshly seeds; these seeds produce weeds/thorns inside of us and a harvest for ourselves and others.

God wants our sorrow to lead to repentance and a change of heart (innermost thinking). “Therefore repent (metanoeo the verb) and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord!” (Acts 3:19 NASB)

Refreshment, really? God wants me to end up receiving refreshment through repentance? Let me get this right! I sin, grieve, feel real bad, and then I repent. I am now able to enter into a new state of thinking (from which I derive life moment by moment), and I will then be refreshed. How perfect is that! Sorrow that comes from the will of God leads to repentance in order to give us refreshment that comes from the very presence of the Lord! (See Repent the Verb and Repentance the Noun)

Oh, the goodness of the mercy of our God. How great Thou art! ~Al

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