It’s never easy to confront sin. We hate admitting to ourselves that we continue to struggle in certain areas of our lives. And where it comes to pointing out someone else’s blind spots, well, who knows what might happen? Maybe they’ll never speak to us again.

Paul had similar anxieties after writing a very difficult letter to the congregation he had helped to organize in Corinth, a letter that seems to have pointed out their failure to engage in some sort of necessary church discipline (v. 8). It wasn’t until Titus brought him the news that the Corinthians still cared about him that he was comforted (v. 7).

But Paul’s mind was also put at ease because he learned that his letter had accomplished its intended effect – repentance (v. 9). And that should be the goal whenever we confront sin in our own lives or in the lives of fellow believers – not only to admit that we have fallen short of God’s expectations, but to turn away from that sin and back to God. Confronting sin is thus a necessary step on the road to a restored relationship with God.

And once we’ve come to the point of repentance, our relationships with other Christians should also be strengthened. We should be grateful for those who had the courage and the love to point out our sins to us. And this seems to be what happened in the case of Paul and the Corinthians, as his severe letter to them revealed their earnest desire and love for him (v. 12), just as it was his love for them that drove him to write that most difficult letter (v. 8).

Oh, sure, we Southerners are so good at avoiding conflict, at pretending that everything is just fine, at simply withdrawing from difficult people and situations. But Paul and the Corinthians have set a different example for us – the harder road of speaking the hard truths. But while conflict avoidance often leads to isolation and resentment, Paul’s road leads to repentance and restoration. Will we have the courage to walk that road?

II Corinthians 7:2-16 (ESV)

2 Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.
3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn– fighting without and fear within.
6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it– though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.
12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.
13 Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
14 For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.
15 And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.
16 I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.