Godly sorrow

For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. - 2 Corinthians 7.8-10

One of the things we always worked on with our children was the importance of saying 'I'm sorry' when they had hurt someone or done something wrong. That's the way we tend to do it. I was watching a rugby match a few years ago. The referee had a mic so you could hear his comments. At one point two opposing players had been going at each other for a while. The official had enough and called them aside. The image was great. There was a relatively short and small official standing between two giants. After his lecture he said to them, 'tell him you're sorry' then he repears it to the other player. Both of there  meekly said 'I'm sorry.' 

In retrospect I am not so sure that making someone say 'I'm sorry' without dealing with the issue is such a smart idea. I'm not too sure, but I think we might just be cheapening the meaning of 'I'm sorry.' It may be a case of being sorry that they are caught, instead of sorry for their action or words. 

Paul dealt with being sorry here. He tells the Corinthians that they were 'sorry for a while' for the things he had addressed in his first letter. It's that 'sorry for a while' bit that is the problem. Far too often we can be sorry, but only for a bit. There is no real change as a result of being sorry. 

But godly sorrow does a work. Real sorrow makes a difference. That is the kind of sorrow the Corinthians had had. It worked. Their sorrow did what real sorrow does. It produced repentance. And that is what godly sorrow always does. 

And the world's false sorrow? It only produces death.