Godly Sorrow and Confrontation: 2 Corinthians 7:10-11

          Godly sorrow is a concept that appears often in scripture; you'll see it in the Proverbs whenever the author is discussing discipline and how it brings life. In the same way, there are several situations within which we are able to grow mightily by the influence of sorrow in our lives. To start out with, let us go to 2 Corinthians 7:10-11:

10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 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. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

          When I hear this verse, I immediately think of classes I've been in where I needed pain or punishment in order to continue forward. I would keep making one small grammatical error on every assignment and I continued to do so until I lost a point for it. Afterwards, I never made the same mistake again. It was because I had experienced some kind of loss and it stuck with me.
          I think we realize this when it comes to disciplining children: we know that the child will never improve in his behavior or attitude unless he experiences some kind of loss to connect with the lesson. As hard as we try to explain why good actions are their own reward, there come appropriate times when we need to use negative reinforcement to show the lesson since they cannot see what we can.
          Everything up to this point has been very simple and without needing much to expound on. However, the application for this verse goes a little farther. Have you ever needed to confront someone? There is a good that you want to achieve in someone's life that they cannot see on their own. The only downside is that the person might be hurt or offended by our piece of advice. Certainly, we are to survey whether someone is open to receiving advice or not. We see this in Proverbs 26:4-5:

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you will be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
    or he will be wise in his own eyes.

           Also, we are told in 1 Peter 3:15b-16 that we are told to offer words of righteousness with gentleness:

 15b Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

          However, the general response of most people to verses like these and their desires to preserve the self confidence and happiness of the person needing change leads them to say nothing at all. The fear of hurting the person is weighed against how much good the change will make. Obviously, even a raging madman should be advised to stop killing people, but most of the time it is very hard to tell if the change is worth the pain, find ourselves unable to balance the two, err on the side of caution, and say nothing. However, if you look at the previous passages, you will see that you are not actually balancing a pro versus a con. Instead, you have two pros. Both the desired change that you want to bring in the person's life and the little bit of pain that will come with this information are both positive things! That small bit of pain will help the lesson to stick and, according to our first passage, will produce earnestness, eagerness to clear themselves, indignation, alarm, longing, concern, and readiness to see justice done. You are doing the person a favor by bringing godly sorrow into their lives. On the other hand, you do not set out to produce sorrow for sorrow's sake alone. That is to rely on the sorrow of the world, which, the passage tells us, leads to death. Additionally, we should only burden someone with one or two suggestions at a time to prevent burdening someone with too much sorrow. We see this in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8 when Paul is dealing with a sinner in the community:

6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 

          A similar verse appears in Galatians 6:1-2:

 1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

         These contrasting themes are brought together in 2 Timothy 1:7:

 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

         While there is nothing wrong with a shy or introverted personality, God gives us the Spirit to be bold and powerful whenever love demands it. You do not truly love someone if you let them sit in their darkness. If we see darkness in someone's life, then it is our responsibility to warn them of their darkness (or find someone close to them whom they would be more willing to listen to). We see this responsibility in Ezekiel 33:6:

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.

         and if we recognize our roles as priests in God's kingdom, we will heed the words of Malachi 2:6-7 when he is discussing priests:

 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. 7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

         So, as you go about this week, remember that the Spirit is in you and tap it's power to confront sin with boldness and power.
Peace,
Simeon Snow