Teaching a teenager how to drive is an adventure. Sitting in the passenger seat as they learn to handle a car is nerve-wracking. One of the most challenging maneuvers is the u-turn. Turning the car so it can go in the opposite direction with oncoming traffic is challenging. Did you know that the term repentance means to do a u-turn and go in the opposite direction? Paul wants you to live a life without regret.
2 CORINTHIANS 7:10
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Paul was dealing with some people who had a hard time admitting they were wrong. They took more pride in their liberty than feeling sorry for what they did. Paul gives us some keys to identify if you are truly repentant of your sins in the passage. First, you should feel remorse for what you did. Feeling sorrow, or sorry, is a byproduct of the Holy Spirit working in your heart. It’s responding to the conviction that what you’ve done is wrong.
More Than Feeling Bad
False repentance doesn’t produce godly sorrow. It produces worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow feels bad for getting caught or is apologetic, but you don’t mean it. That is what you see going on in the media. No one is broken over what they have done, but they want to appear sorry. When you have godly repentance, it leads to salvation, but when it is worldly repentance, it leads to death. I can’t give you specifics on what that means but suffice it to say it is important to heed.
Live a Life Without Regret
The best way to live a life without regret is to repent according to the will of God. That means that genuine sorrow has been produced in your heart, and you have changed your mind about your actions. This, in turn, produces a change of direction in your life, and you no longer willfully do the sin. When you walk through the steps of repentance, it relieves that regret you have been living with.