Mar 17, 2021
There's a difference between Godly sorrow and shame. Shame is what I experience when I beat myself up for something I've done or didn't do. I tell myself I'm a loser, or I remind myself that I hate either myself or something about myself. Often, I experience shame when I'm thinking about mistakes I made in the past. I can think of some times when I really messed up. The emotion connected with those things, to me, is shame.
But Paul tells the Corinthians here that when we're sorry and that sorrow is from God, we experience a different result. We will repent without regret and we will be saved. We will experience God's salvation for us. God doesn't condemn those who follow Jesus. We're not under a sentence of judgment. But we can experience sadness over our mistakes and our purposeful missteps. And we can know that sorrow comes from God if it causes us to truly repent, do a 180 and experience God's salvation.
Someone is listening today who probably needs to hear this. Jesus paid for our mistakes and our purposeful selfish choices. All we have to do to experience God's salvation is follow Jesus. When we listen to him and bend our lives to do what he says, he guides us into a joy and purpose we can't fully understand. And that joy and purpose will help us invest in the lives of others around us. This is about Jesus, not about us. Ask God for the sorrow that puts us back right with Jesus. Then we can be free to truly serve the people around us.
I also want to remind you to check out other faith-at-work podcasts. Check out the Awaken Podcast Network and find over 100 different podcasts that will help you integrate your faith and work daily. Go to AwakenPodcastNetwork.com to check it out.