Am I Sorry?

All little kids, no matter how cute or wonderful they are, are naughty at some point. Most of us learned as children that when we are naughty, we are supposed to say, “I’m sorry.” We probably learned that about the time that we were taught to say “please” and “thank you.” But did we really learn what it meant?
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The basic definition of ‘sorry’ is to feel regret for an action. The problem is that there are a lot of reasons why we may feel regret for something. Consider a little boy who puts his gum in the hair of a little girl at school. There are a lot of reasons why he may be sorry that he did it. He may be sorry that the teacher yelled at him. He may be sorry that the little girl doesn’t like him anymore or that his friends thought it was a dumb thing to do. He may be sorry that his parents were disappointed in him and will not buy him anymore gum. There are a lot of reasons for him to be sorry and to wish he had never put his gum in her hair, but the little boy is not truly repentant unless he is sorry because he realizes it was wrong.
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Most people are like the little boy. We are sorry because our sinful actions hurt us rather than benefit us. In other words, unless there are consequences for our sins, we really are not worried about offending God. Someone who has really surrendered to God is not as worried about the consequences of the sin as the sin itself. Even if the teacher did not catch him and his friends thought it was cool, he still would not pull the gum stunt because it was wrong.
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Merrill F. Unger in The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary tells us that repentance includes humble self surrender to the will and service of God. There is a real difference between Biblical repentance and worldly sorrow. The apostle Paul actually dealt with this subject in II Corinthians 7:9-10 when he tells us, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
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When it comes to salvation, the difference between real repentance and worldly sorry over results or consequences of our actions is a difference between heaven and hell. Jesus Christ made it clear that repentance was a life or death issue when He clearly warned, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
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Romans 3:23 makes it clear, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. Are we simply sorry that God knows we are sinners? Are we just sorry that the rest of the world knows we have sinned? Are we only sorry that things haven’t worked out so well because of our sins? Or are we truly repentant that we have offended a holy God, and are so sorry that we are committed to Him in such a way that we want Him to change our lives for His Glory?
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That is what real repentance is about. Being so sorry for sin that we are committed to God in such a way that we want Him to change our lives for His Glory. That is essentially what it means to be ‘born again’. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Things become new as we recognize that our old way of excusing sin must be put aside as we surrender our wills to the service of God. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).