Godly Sorrow

I was reading a post from Dan Phillips' blog here and I thought of Paul's writings in 2 Corinthians 7 about godly and worldly sorrow, specifically 2 Corinthians 7:10-11.



Paul writes that godly sorrow produces a zeal in the repentant to distant himself from his sin. I agree with Dan that this standard applies to all Christians but it does seem that as pastors we should be doubly certain to insure that our grief is Godly and not worldly. Not only should we repent publicly if our sins are public, but I think we should show what steps we have taken to make sure that particular sin does not overcome us again. The world has seen too many pastors in the public eye fall and claim repentance. What they need to see is the proof of repentance, the zeal to prove our turning from sin to righteousness. They need to see Godly sorrow.