** Article from Heartlight.org (by Mike Barres)For God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation. We will never regret that kind of sorrow. But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death. (2 Corinthians 7:11)
Have you ever seen people weeping in response to a powerful message --
public or private -- in sincere repentance. Repentance is a Biblical
word that is often neglected these days. Repentance comes because
people have "godly sorrow" that leads them to change their lives to be
in tune with the will of God. The early messengers of God said, "Repent
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that
times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19
NKJV). Those occasions are an incredible to observe. God convicts,
hearts are broken because of sin, and repentance occurs. Too often
these days, people's hearts are callous. It seems to me that you don't
see this happen as frequently these days. People want to do the "church
thing." They want to get in, get out, and get on with their "to do"
list of Sunday activities.
Some people feel good about feeling bad!
I have noticed something else, as well. It seems like some people feel
good about feeling bad, but never really change. They're all about
emotional conviction, but not about spiritual correction. Let me
explain.
You're in church. You know you should feel guilty and feel bad about
not being a better Christian. So, you start feeling bad, but that's
good, because for a long time, you didn't feel bad when you sinned or
rebelled against the will of God or neglected his call in your life.
Then, you feel so convicted that you begin to cry a bit. Then, you may
even go before others and cry. You feel good about this, because you
knew you were supposed to feel bad, but didn't before, but now you do.
You even think, "God must really be happy with me, since I'm finally
feeling bad for what I've done." The sad thing is, you don't change,
because you missed the point. God's goal isn't our feeling bad. His
real interest is in our repentance -- something that brings about
change in us both inside and out. That is what the conviction of the
Holy Spirit is supposed to do: convict our hearts and empower our
change. God wants us to change and come back to Him. John the Baptizer
said, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance ..." (Luke 3:8).
I think we can get in to a Christian form of "pseudo sin-suffering" if
we aren't careful. Some people like it when preachers yell at them and
they feel bad. Others feel relieved to just feel convicted of their
sin. But, feeling bad is not the point. Do we receive conviction from
the Holy Spirit, have sincere sorrow, and sincerely repent making real
life changes? There is a difference between feeling sorry and turning
to the way of God. Feeling sorry just involves emotions, repentance
involves change at every level of our being — thought, emotion,
behavior, and attitude.