I came across the term “worldly sorrow” in my Bible reading and it made me pause. When the Bible talks about “worldly” things it refers to the domain of the enemy and things we should not pursue. Surely sorrow is an emotion that we can experience without judgment or fear of doing it wrong. But as I read the scripture, it challenged my assumption on experiencing sorrow.
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT)
Repentance is missing in worldly sorrow. Repentance is one of those churchy words I had heard of but knew little about. The dictionary defines “repent” as to feel sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one’s life for the better; be penitent.
The first part of the scripture states, “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation” and this aligns with the definition of repent. To repent is to turn away from sin. Worldly sorrow does not include turning away from sin. If we are not turning away from sin, then we are moving towards sin or inviting it to move closer to us. There is no stasis or perfect balance. Worldly sorrow lacks repentance and thus moves us toward sin.
So what can worldly sorrow look like? A person can feel sorrow for suffering the consequences incurred for doing something wrong. The sorrow they feel is more from being caught and not because their heart is heavy from doing something wrong.
I cannot assert that Godly sorrow will always cause a broken heart, but a broken heart can catalyze the act of repentance, the distinct act of turning away from sin.
Our heart breaks when we realize that even at our best, our sin makes us fall miserably short of the perfect standard Jesus provided. A beautiful example of Godly sorrow is Isaiah who recognized his sin and how apparent the filth of his lips were while in the glorious presence of God in Isaiah 6:5 (NLT). In that same moment a picture of forgiveness is offered and a beautiful reminder of our own forgiveness through Christ Jesus.
A.W. Pink stated, “The Christian that has stopped repenting has stopped growing.” But more is at stake than spiritual growth, sorrow without repentance is dangerous for the scriptures say it causes spiritual death. How often do we take care to repent of our sins?
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