Correction and sorrow

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. – 2 Corinthians 7.8-10

I am sure that Paul’s deeply correcting first letter to Corinth mush have causes some discomfort. Correcting and being corrected is never easy for either.  The old saying ‘this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you’ has a lot of truth.

Paul obviously felt some regret for the words he had to say. Trying to point out another’s sin is always tough, mostly because we know that we are sinners who need correction. The old ‘mote v beam’ concept comes to mind. How can I correct someone else when I see the sin in my own life?

Paul knew that there was a great goal in mind. He knew that sorrow was worth bearing if it brought about true repentance. His sorrow in correcting the Corinthians and their sorrow in being corrected would be worth it all if they would repent of their sin and move on.

That is how we must see loving and Bibilcal correction whether we are the one who must confront someone or we are the one being confronted. It might hurt our pride for the moment, but if brings about correction the joy is far greater than the sorrow.