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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.
So, even though I wrote that letter, it was not because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged. Instead, I wrote it to make plain to you, in God's sight, how deep your devotion to us really is.
That is why we were encouraged.
2 Corinthians 7:11-13a
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
One of the greatest tools that the Lord possesses to shape us into being the people He wants us to be is conviction. This blessing comes upon us when we read the word of our Lord and allow His Holy Spirit to influence our heart and mind. Both will lead a person to a place of godly sorrow, a sincere regret for living in ways that are undesirable to God.
It was this godly sorrow that Paul was trying to cultivate within the church of Corinth and the believers there because he knew godly sorrow would lead to repentance and repentance would result in a turning from sin toward righteousness.
But repentance wasn’t the only byproduct of conviction and godly sorrow. For as we see in today’s passage, there were other important outcomes as well. Look again at Paul’s words here:
See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.
So, even though I wrote that letter, it was not because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged. Instead, I wrote it to make plain to you, in God's sight, how deep your devotion to us really is. That is why we were encouraged. 2 Corinthians 7:11-13a
The godly sorrow produced by the Lord’s conviction had helped to sharpen the mindset of the Corinthian Christians. Their minds were eager to show their innocence to God, fueled by a righteous indignation. Their hearts were grounded in feelings of devotion to their Lord and a readiness to punish any wrongdoing within the church. There would be no more complicity with wickedness as the Jesus believers in Corinth were eager to show themselves faultless.
This was the state of the Corinthian church and it was a healthy one. Paul was pleased in where the Christians in Corinth were in relation to their God as well as to him and those traveling with him on the mission trail. The love of the Corinthians toward the missionaries who helped plant their church was an encouragement to them.
When we stay connected to the scriptures, we can’t but help to be convicted and led to a place of godly sorrow, challenged to live in ways that are counter to the world and pleasing in the sight of God. The word and Spirit of our Lord possesses a power to continuously transform a person, refining and reforming them daily to be a better person in the presence of God, a person more and more like the Christ who saved them. We should invite this as believers and be intentional about permitting the Lord to mold us in His image. When we do, we will be sure to be effective in living God, modeling the life of Jesus as we help others find salvation and become disciples in His name.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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