2 Corinthians 7

I got this question from a friend today so that email selected my chapter for the day.

I had someone ask me what it meant that God convicts us and that the devil condemns. I explained it to them, but was wanting some scripture or quotes from a book to give to them. Do you happen to know off the top of your head, some scripture I could pass along or a good book they could read?

Conviction is a sad feeling that initiates a positive change. Condemnation is a sad feeling that just makes you feel bad and depressed and guilty and isn’t intended to make you a better person, it’s intended to just make you feel bad about yourself. Paul wrote a bunch of convicting things in his first letter to Corinth and it resulted in positive change. That's what he's referring to in this chapter. Satan wants to make you feel bad about what you do to drive you away from God in shame. God wants you to feel bad about the sin you’ve done so you can know it’s wrong and not keep doing it. Make sense?

A good example of condemnation was at the first sin. The snake's lies and their response to them made Adam and Eve hide from God in shame. Shame is never from God. Shame made them run away from God.

A good example of conviction was wee little Zacchaeus. When he met Jesus, he felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow for what he had done. But like this chapter says, it was a godly sorrow because it led him to repentance. He not only turned away from his sin, he ran toward God.

So if you're feeling guilty about something, then that's OK. You probably are guilty. But if your sorrow leads you back to God, then it's God convicting you. If the guilty feeling makes you want to hide in shame, that's just that snake trying to get you farther from God again.