A what kind of sorrow?

Last night was a real joy for me. It was our second week in growth groups (that's what we call our bible study groups at NLEC), and we were looking at 2 Corinthians 7:2-16. The Big Idea was ... godly sorrow leads to repentance.

It was a positive night as people were grappling with the word of God, in order to change. And it was a passage about change! Godly sorrow is a good thing, as it leads us to repentance - A U turn in the direction we are living our lives, to turn from living our own way, to live God's way. Sorrow and grief, can have a positive result. It's not like worldly sorrow, that just leaves you feeling sorry for yourself, with no change at all, or sorry because you got caught out! But it leads to real change. I was encourage to see how the Corinthians responded to the rebuke from Paul. They repented. They changed.

And our group really wanted to come to terms with this. It was a great gift of God, to see people longing to understand the Scriptures, and work out how it applies. I came home buzzing. I'm usually down on myself for how I lead the study. But this time was different. And I was in pain was well with an infected gum, around a wisdom tooth.

Now, I've been thinking about this concept of godly sorrow this week in my own life. I though what area's of my life have I been sorry (in the worldly sense), or has my sorrow been a godly sorrow? The real test of what kind of sorrow I have, is "Has it brought about change?", " Have I repented?"

May God continue to rebuke me through his Word. May I always have ears to hear, and be prepared to have godly sorrow in my life because it leads me to repentance.