Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow

"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; 

but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 

"For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, 

what carefulness it wrought in you, 

yea, what clearing of yourselves, 

yea, what indignation, 

yea, what fear, 

yea, what vehement desire, 

yea, what zeal, 

yea, what revenge! 

In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." 2 Cor. 7:10-11

In April, while I was in Betel, I weighed myself and discovered that I had gained 20 pounds over the almost six months I had been there. Up until that time, I had been moaning, "I'm fat," without doing the slightest thing about it. So it was worldly sorrow that worketh death. And it was.

The moaning about my weight was contagious, and other girls started moaning about theirs, too. The destruction started to spread. I was not the least bit concerned that I wasn't doing anything about it, and I had not the least intention of doing anything about it, but I wanted to moan about it. In other words, I was sorry I was fat, but I wasn't sorry to repentance. I still wanted to eat as much as I liked and indulge my every craving. I didn't want to have to make a sacrifice to lose weight or stop putting it on.

But one day, in early April, on reading this passage, I realized that this is worldly sorry, and it works death. I didn't want that!

I also got a clear picture from the passage of what godly sorrow would be: Repentance!

Carefulness about what I eat.

Clearing of myself, casting aside and denying the unnecessary cravings that have so dominated me.

Indignation that I should have let myself get to such a state.

Fear of more obesity and the consequent health problems I will reap by going on this way.

Vehement Desire - Vehement Desire - VEHEMENT DESIRE to get my body back down to a proper weight.

Zeal to approach the task which, if done with anything less than zeal, will take so long that I will end up discouraged.

Revenge against my former fleshly living--a ruthless cutting off of those parts which have caused me to sin: Sugar. Snacks. Yummy comfort foods. Large helpings. I have to give my flesh what is distasteful to it: Death. Salads. Small portions. No sugar. No snacks.

There is godly sorrow that will work salvation from fatness not to be repented of. The way is clear.

~~~
Related posts you may enjoy:
The Flesh's Reaction to Godly Sorrow
Follow Up to Godly Sorrow