There are many reasons to sorrow in this life. However, in this article we will focus on sorrowing over sin. Paul discussed this in his second letter to Corinth:

“For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

“For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter” (2 Corinthians 7:8-11).

Sorrow can be produced by our own sins or the sins of others. Generally, sorrow is destructive unless we have the right kind of sorrow – godly sorrow. What is godly sorrow? Why is it beneficial for us? We will examine the passage above and seek to answer those questions in this article.
Continue Reading