OF GODLY SORROW
“Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 MSG
As unbelievable as it may sound, there are believers who veered off the faith because they were offended by “God” through a minister or a church.
While this stands as no excuse for the abuse that is often committed in the hands of some church institutions, it does reveal that the individual in question was not yet mature enough to discern that though we receive from ministers and grow from the teaching and shepherding they provide, our allegiance is to God and Him alone.
Paul knew such things would happen and he wrote urging us to remember that “this treasure is in earthen vessels” that the excellence of power may be of God and not of man (2 Corinthians 4:7). On the flip side of this is the necessity for shepherds to correct the mistakes and rebellious ways that may be present among the flock, and this is bound to cause sorrow if truly one has a heart devoted to Christ and seeking to do His will.
Our earthly parents showed us the way by correcting us when we did things that may be senseless or damaging to us and our communities, and many a time we may have not known to which extent until the correction was administered. So it is with our spiritual parents, and just as we did not desert our earthly fathers for correcting us, so should we receive our spiritual fathers’ correction with softness of heart and humility.
Child of God deserting the church because you were offended by correction might only be proof of an unrepentant heart and a lack of understanding about your responsibility toward hatred of error as a christian. Do not despise godly sorrow for it leads to repentance and life! Hallelujah.
Prayer: Father I thank you for this truth. I am conscious that no correction is enjoyable while it happens but I have exercised my heart to be open to it for I know an offended heart blurs my ability to see the kingdom of God at work. I purpose to always remember that a child corrected is a child well loved, and to this end do I submit my self to your loving correction and the vessels through which it may come, in Jesus name. Amen!
CI.
