Friday, September 7, 2012

That hurt your feelings? Good!

I'm glad that caused you pain and made you suffer.  That brings me a great deal of happiness knowing that I did that.  Thank you for encouraging me.

Truth hurts, huh Doc?
Now, that's not what Paul said in II Corinthians 7:8-12, but it's a pretty good summation of his attitude.  He had written the church to confront a sin, which is what Christians are commanded by God to do, and his letter made them sorrowful.  I suspect when they first read it, they thought his words were disrespectful and unwarranted.  I mean, they might have even thought "Way to proverbially kick someone when they're down, Paul".  Ultimately, though, the genuineness of their faith was proven.

It was proven by their repentance.  You see, when a Christian is shown that they have sinned, they don't argue "Well, no I didn't write that about you" or "I didn't have that attitude" or even "You must have misunderstood me".  The response of a Christian is "You're right.  I'm sorry". 

Let's all pray that God will give us a repentant heart that is sensitive to sin in our lives.

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