“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10, ESV)
When I lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, I participated in an annual 5-K race on the fourth of July. Following the 5-K they had a 1-mile Survival Run where the participants ran in combat boots and a backpack with 15-pounds of weight in it. The last time I did anything like the Survival Run was when I was in the Army Ranger School in the early 70’s.
I guess I had forgotten how much different it was to run with extra weight. The extra 15-pounds really slowed my pace from the earlier 5-K.
The point of this is that in life we need to shed weight so that we will not be hindered by excess baggage. In speaking about emotional wellness, the thing that will weigh us down the most is the weight of guilt over past sins. Past sin will heap upon us guilt, remorse, regrets, and shame. Often the result can be depression, anxiety, anger and other things.
The Bible gives us a clear solution for these issues. It is confession and repentance. This is what Paul alluded to in his writing to the Corinthians.
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
Here Paul refers to two types of “grief.” The word grief, lupe, refers to sorrow, pain, grief, affliction as experienced by a person. These are definitely things that can weigh us down. However, there are two types of grief. There is godly grief and worldly grief. Godly grief has the idea of great remorse in the heart of a person because of the wrong done, which will bring one to repentance and deliverance from guilt. Worldly grief has no such remedy.
Years ago, a young woman asked me to meet with her as she was dealing with an emotional issue of depression. I sat down with her and asked a few questions about her life. I discovered that she had a very sordid past which included drug and alcohol abuse, sexual immorality, rebellion against her parents, bad language, and a host of other things.
I took a page out of Jay Adams book, “Competent to Counsel,” and drew a stick figure of a man holding up a plate. I drew down arrows on the plate and labeled each one with the sins she had revealed. I wrote on the side of the plate in large letters, GUILT, and told her that the weight of guilt was crushing her.
She was paying close attention and wanted to know how to deal with the guilt. I said, “You can’t take care of it yourself, but I know someone who can? His name is Jesus and He can take your guilt away.” Then I shared the gospel with her and she received Christ.
Her transformation was remarkable. The next day I spoke with a man who knew her situation. He told me that she had expressed faith in Jesus and was a totally different person, that she was joyful. She experienced emotional wellness as godly sorrow brought her to salvation and repentance.
Renewing the Heart 