Do You Grieve Over Sin?

Pastor Gary Oser

I would like to share another question to help you diagnose your spiritual health from the book, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, by Donald Whitney. The question is: “Do you still grieve over sin?”

We live in a world which takes sin lightly. Rather than call something sin, the world would call it a mistake or a weakness. It tries to rationalize and justify sin. As Christians, we should understand the seriousness of sin and be quick to confess and repent of it. When you think about sin, you should think about what Jesus went through on the cross as He suffered and died there for your sins.

Donald Whitney well says, “The closer you get to Christ, the more you will hate sin; for nothing is more unlike Christ than sin. Because Jesus hates sin, the more like Him you grow, the more you will grow to hate sin. And the more you hate sin, the more you will grieve whenever you realize that you have embraced that which killed your Savior.”

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, Paul contrasts godly sorrow (grief) with worldly sorrow. He says,

“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

The New Living Translation (NLT) says it this way,

“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”

When we have godly sorrow over sin, we are not just sorry we got caught, but we are brokenhearted that we have hurt our Savior and so turn away from our sin.

A great example of a man who genuinely grieved over sin in Scripture (the Bible) is King David. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. For a period of time, he tried to cover his sin. When confronted by Nathan, he finally owned up to his sin and sought God’s forgiveness. Listen to some of his words to God found in Psalm 51:

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, and You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight…” (vv. 3-4).

In the previous two verses, he says,

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (vv. 1-2).

What is your attitude about sin? Increased sensitivity to sin and brokenheartedness over it is a mark of spiritual growth.