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Dec 10, 2025 06:00am

Are You Sorry…or Just Sorry You Got Caught?

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Would you say you’re sorry if the truth never came out?

I think we were in third grade. Johnny, Matt, and I had been riding the bus together for a long time. Well, it seemed like a long time to a kid. On this particular week, we had a substitute teacher. As dumb kids often do, we decided it would be funny to draw a picture of our sub. At that time, I considered myself quite the artist, so with a pencil in hand, I drew our depiction of what we imagined her to look like.

We laughed and carried on until Matt had to get off the bus, then Johnny, and soon I was skipping down my driveway too, without a care in the world.

Until the next day.

All three of us were called into the principal’s office. And there was Mr. Brooks, a stern look on his face, with a white piece of paper in his hands.

The picture.

I’m sure the color drained from our faces. Because the moment we saw it, we knew exactly what was on the other side.

Guilt flooded me. I remember hearing myself mumble “I’m sorry” with my head and eyes lowered. Our recess was taken away. And while that was the worst thing ever to a kid, that moment felt like more than just the sting of punishment.

I had disappointed someone. Someone I looked up to. And that hurt worse.

The truth was, though, if I hadn’t been caught, I would have never confessed and never said I was sorry. I would have continued drawing terrible pictures until I did get caught. And even at that moment, I wasn’t declaring that I would never draw a bad picture again. In my mind, I knew I needed to be more careful: Don’t get caught.

2 Corinthians 7:8–10
“I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. 9 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. 10 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.”

Sorrow.

Paul had written a letter to the Corinthian believers that contained some harsh but much-needed words of correction. When the people read the letter, they reacted with remorse and repentance. They had “godly sorrow.” They recognized what they did was wrong, and they wanted to do what was right by Paul and by the Lord. They weren’t just sorry they had been caught; it was a true and deep feeling of remorse and a desire to do better.

It was hard for Paul to call them out the way he did, but he wasn’t sorry. Because it led them to repentance. Had they only said they were sorry because they had been caught, it would have been “worldly sorrow,” and Paul explained that no change in the heart leads to spiritual death.

As we read the words of Paul, the question lingers in our minds and hearts too. Is there something that needs to be confessed to the Lord and repented of? Does the acknowledgment produce remorse and sorrow for our sin? Let’s examine our hearts today and restore that deep connection with the Lord.

Want to take that next step in growing closer to the Lord? Go to follow.lifeword.org and learn more about Jesus and becoming His follower.