“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens” (Ps.68:19).
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2Cor.7:10)
Lord Jesus, 10,000 thanks for being the Savior who daily bears our burdens. Of all the heavy burdens we keep throwing into our backpacks and “heart-packs”—”vain regret” may be the heaviest. It masquerades as Spirit-conviction, but it really has nothing to do with the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is self-centered, pride fueled, and the only way the world knows how to deal with personal failure. Vain regret starts as shame, condemnation, and self-contempt; then it morphs into minimizing, excuse making, and scapegoating.
“Godly sorrow” however is the exact opposite of vain regret. It is “godly” because it honors you, is a work of grace (not law). It frees us to take responsibility, grieve, and repent for the unloving things we have thought, said, and done. Nothing is more beautiful and life-giving—unlike vain regret which only results in various expressions of death. It kills our peace and joy, and opportunities for the Gospel to become beautiful and believable to others.
Jesus, you know the things we deeply regret, generated from chapters and years of our parenting and “spouse-ing”—and the ways we have wasted time, ignored you, and hurt people we love. So, we come to you right now grateful the Gospel is true and that you occupy a throne of grace.
Precisely because there is no condemnation left for our sin (Rom.8:1), we can freely respond to Spirit-conviction about our sin, and Spirit-direction for moving forward. May our repentance become more obvious than our failures to love well. We’ll never regret humbling ourselves; we’ll only regret hardening our hearts. Here’s to a season of life-giving, joy-fueling godly sorrow. So Very Amen.
