Back in 1970, the repeated theme of the movie, "Love Story," told us, "Love means you never have to say you're sorry." But this theme wasn't the apostle Paul's theme, for he wrote, "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance .... For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
In Paul's first letter to the Corinthian brethren, he took them to task for a number of errors and abuses they were committing. Paul certainly wasn't "warm and fuzzy" in that letter. In fact, he stated in his second letter to them, "For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it" (2 Corinthians 7:8).
No doubt, Paul hurt their feeling with such words as "you are still carnal" (1 Corinthians 3:3), and "I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?" (1 Corinthians 6:5). In the final analysis, Paul did exactly what the Corinthians brethren needed. His letter produce within them a godly sorrow for their sins, which led to their sincere repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9).
Until and unless folks understand the gravity of their sins and feel godly sorrow (Jonah 3:5-10), they will have no motive to repent. And unless they biblically repent (cf. Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20), they cannot be saved (Luke 13:3). Like Paul, may we be bold in confronting sin forcefully (Ephesians 6:19-20; cf. Titus 1:10-13), with the hope that godly sorrow will produce "repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Beloved, true biblical love will not stand by and allow a soul to be lost because we were afraid that confronting him or her might hurt their feelings.
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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