Faith in Focus is a weekly reflection on what God has been teaching me throughout the week regarding my faith. Whether it’s personal interactions, reading, or the Sunday sermon, God speaks through it all, and I hope this helps you focus on His mission.
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Sermon Reflection
Grief can turn us inward, leaving us consumed by our failures and their consequences. But Scripture describes another kind of sorrow, one that turns us toward Christ, produces genuine repentance, and opens the door to a joy that can’t be experienced alone.
Based on the sermon by Jonathan Land, Connection Church Sioux Falls, November 1, 2026.
Make Room in Your Heart: The Shared Joy of a Repentant Church
Have you ever sent a message you immediately wished you could take back?
Perhaps it was an uncomfortable email, a difficult conversation, or a necessary confrontation with someone you love. You hit send, put your phone down, and almost immediately begin replaying every word. Did I say too much? Did I say it the right way? How will they receive it? Will this damage the relationship beyond repair?
Now imagine waiting months for an answer.
That’s something of the emotional landscape surrounding Paul in 2 Corinthians 7. He’d confronted a church he loved, addressed serious sin, and sent a difficult letter through his trusted companion Titus. He didn’t know how the Corinthians would respond. Their relationship had been strained, his previous visit had gone poorly, and he was left waiting for news.
Paul’s eventual response is remarkably human. He admits that the letter caused him grief even as he recognizes its necessity. He had no control over how the Corinthians would receive his words. Yet when Titus finally arrived with news, Paul’s anxiety gave way to rejoicing.
The Corinthians had repented.
And in that restoration, Paul discovered something worth remembering. God often brings comfort through the people he places around us.
The question running beneath this passage isn’t simply whether we will experience grief. We will. The deeper question is where that grief will take us. Will it turn us inward, toward our wounded pride and threatened plans, or will it turn us toward Jesus?
The World Behind the Text
The church in Corinth wasn’t a picture of effortless Christian maturity.
Paul had previously addressed divisions, sexual immorality, lawsuits between believers, abuses surrounding the Lord’s Supper, and disputes over Christian freedom. The congregation had plenty of spiritual growing to do. Their surrounding culture was influencing their understanding of what it meant to follow Christ.
Paul’s relationship with them had become strained. Following a painful visit, he sent what’s commonly understood to be a severe or tearful letter, carried by Titus. Paul later described his anxiety while waiting for Titus in 2 Corinthians 2:12-13.
The background is important because chapter seven isn’t an isolated reflection on feeling sad. It’s the resolution of a broken relationship.
Paul had confronted sin, but his objective was never simply to win an argument. He wanted reconciliation. He wanted the Corinthians to recognize the seriousness of their sin, turn toward God, and experience renewed fellowship with one another.
There’s also a significant contrast in the passage. The Corinthians had been making room for the values of their surrounding world while resisting the people who genuinely wanted to see them grow in Christ.
Paul’s appeal in verse two is direct. Make room in your hearts for us.
This is a question of formation. What occupies our hearts? Who influences our decisions? Whose voice do we trust when our own judgment becomes clouded?
We can possess an extraordinary amount of information and still lack the spiritual formation necessary to live faithfully. Knowing more doesn’t automatically make us more Christlike. The gospel calls for something deeper than accumulating knowledge. It calls for transformation.
Walking the Passage
Paul begins by asking the Corinthians to open their hearts to him. He insists that he’s wronged no one, corrupted no one, and taken advantage of no one. His correction wasn’t an attempt to condemn them.
He reminds them that they’re in his heart, whether in death or life.
That order is striking. The Christian life isn’t a promise that everything will become comfortable before we surrender ourselves to Christ. It begins with dying to ourselves. We relinquish our claim to be the ultimate authority over our lives because Jesus is Lord.
This is the movement of the gospel. Christ died and was raised so that those who belong to him would no longer live for themselves, but for him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
And that changes the way we approach relationships.
Christian correction should never be an excuse for cruelty, humiliation, or spiritual superiority. Paul isn’t confronting the Corinthians because he enjoys making them uncomfortable. He’s speaking because he loves them.
There’s a difference between someone who wants to win an argument and someone who wants to see another person restored.
We need people who love us enough to hold up a mirror. People who can identify sin without defining us by our failures. People who will tell us the truth while remaining committed to walking alongside us.
That kind of relationship requires humility on both sides.
Paul’s emotional condition becomes particularly transparent in verses five and six. He describes arriving in Macedonia without rest, facing conflict externally and fear internally.
Then comes one of Scripture’s most hope filled turns.
But God.
God comforts the downcast. And how does he comfort Paul in this particular moment? Through the arrival of Titus. Paul doesn’t describe an abstract feeling of reassurance. God sends a person. Titus arrives carrying news, encouragement, and evidence that the Holy Spirit has been working in the Corinthian church.
The comfort of God has a name and a face.
That’s a powerful reminder for a culture increasingly comfortable with isolation. We can fill our calendars with activity, our phones with notifications, and our minds with endless information while remaining disconnected from the people God has given us.
Sometimes we explain our absence from Christian community by saying life is overwhelming. Our schedules are full. We’re tired. We need space. We’ll reconnect when things settle down.
But those may be the very reasons we need Christian community most.
God has given his people his Word, prayer, and the fellowship of the local church as means through which we grow and receive encouragement. Hebrews 10:24-25 calls believers to consider how to stir one another toward love and good works, not abandoning the gathering together.
This isn’t a claim that people replace God or that every experience of comfort must arrive through another person. God comforts directly through his Word and Spirit as well. But Scripture repeatedly shows him caring for his people through the faithful presence of others.
Our friendships are formative. The people we allow to speak into our lives influence what we value, how we respond to difficulty, and the direction we travel.
Choose those relationships carefully. And become the kind of friend who helps someone else keep looking toward Jesus.
The heart of the passage arrives in verses eight through eleven.
Paul acknowledges that his letter caused the Corinthians sorrow. He even admits that he initially regretted sending it. He knew he’d caused pain, and he didn’t know what the outcome would be.
But Titus brought good news.
The Corinthians had experienced godly grief, and that grief had produced repentance. Paul distinguishes between godly grief and worldly grief. One leads toward life; the other produces death.
The difference isn’t simply how intensely someone feels bad. It’s where that sorrow directs the heart.
Worldly grief turns inward. It’s consumed by consequences. We regret getting caught, losing our reputation, damaging a relationship, or watching our plans fall apart. We’re sorry because life has become harder for us.
Godly grief recognizes something deeper. Our sin is ultimately an offense against a holy God.
David’s response in Psalm 51 provides a vivid biblical illustration. After his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, David is confronted by Nathan. His repentance isn’t merely an acknowledgment that his decisions have produced terrible consequences. He recognizes his sin before God and appeals to God’s mercy.
Godly grief produces movement.
Paul describes the Corinthians’ earnestness, indignation, longing, and zeal. Their repentance was visible. They didn’t simply feel bad and return to business as usual. Their response demonstrated that something had changed.
Yet there’s an important safeguard here.
Repentance isn’t an attempt to earn forgiveness through sufficient sorrow. It’s not a competition to determine who can feel the most remorse. As Jonathan’s sermon emphasized, our sorrow doesn’t wash away our sin. Christ’s blood does.
Repentance turns away from sin and toward the finished work of Jesus.
A person can experience devastating consequences and still resist repentance. Another can come before God with genuine sorrow, acknowledge the wrong, and begin walking in a different direction.
The question isn’t whether we’ve suffered enough for what we’ve done.
The question is whether we’re looking to Christ.
A Fair Counter-Reading
There’s a danger in reading this passage carelessly. Christian leaders and friends can misuse the language of correction, repentance, and submission to justify controlling behavior or silence legitimate concerns.
Paul doesn’t give anyone permission to confront others however they please. His own words establish a different standard. He insists that he hasn’t wronged or exploited the Corinthians, and he repeatedly emphasizes his love for them.
Correction must be shaped by the character of Christ, not personal preference or a desire for control.
Likewise, reconciliation doesn’t mean ignoring genuine harm, bypassing appropriate accountability, or demanding immediate trust from someone who’s been wounded. The wider correspondence demonstrates that discipline has a restorative purpose. In 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, Paul also urges the church to forgive and comfort the person who’s been disciplined.
The goal is neither punishment for its own sake nor unquestioning compliance. It’s restoration under the authority of Christ.
That requires truth, humility, patience, and grace.
The Turn
Paul’s story doesn’t end with his personal relief.
Titus is refreshed by the Corinthians. Paul rejoices over Titus’s affection for them. The Corinthians are experiencing renewed fellowship, and Paul closes the chapter by expressing confidence in them.
Repentance has produced shared joy.
This’s where the passage becomes particularly challenging to an individualistic understanding of Christianity. We often think of our relationship with Jesus as something primarily personal. We want our faith, our preferences, our schedule, and our spiritual experiences to remain under our control.
But the Christian life isn’t designed around the individual as the center.
Consumer Christianity can preserve Christian vocabulary while quietly replacing Jesus as Lord with ourselves. We begin treating the church as a provider of experiences, the sermon as content to evaluate, and Christian relationships as optional additions to an already crowded life.
Jesus becomes useful rather than sovereign.
Yet the gospel calls us into something altogether different. We belong to Christ, and therefore we belong to one another.
Paul’s joy isn’t merely that the Corinthians stopped doing something wrong. It’s that their hearts were being transformed. Their repentance strengthened relationships, refreshed Titus, restored confidence, and produced affection that had grown even deeper through the process.
Paul’s confidence wasn’t ultimately based on the Corinthians having an impeccable track record. It was rooted in what he had witnessed God doing among them.
This is the beauty of a gospel centered community. We don’t gather because we’ve already figured everything out. We gather because we need Jesus, and because God often uses other believers to help us see where we need him.
The cross stands at the center of this entire conversation.
We were the rebellious ones. We were the ones who sinned. Yet Christ took the punishment we deserved. The righteous Son of God bore our sin so that we could be reconciled to the Father.
The Christian faith rests on this historical reality: Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds confess this foundational hope.
There’s a love that wounds in order to heal. We see it imperfectly in faithful Christian relationships, but perfectly at the cross.
Look at Jesus until the weight of that love changes how you see yourself, your sin, and the people around you.
Carry It Into the Week
Paul’s experience gives us several practical places to begin.
First, ask yourself who you need to make room for in your heart.
Have you closed yourself off from people who genuinely want to help you follow Jesus? Have you become so protective of your independence that you no longer allow anyone to challenge your decisions?
Find people who love you enough to tell you the truth. Welcome correction from those who demonstrate biblical wisdom, humility, and genuine concern for your spiritual well being.
Second, pay attention to where your grief is pointing.
When something goes wrong this week, examine your response. Are you primarily upset because your plans have been disrupted, your reputation threatened, or your comfort removed? Or are you grieving because something has pulled you away from the holiness and goodness of God?
Bring your sorrow before him. Don’t hide behind excuses or attempt to manage the consequences without addressing the sin itself.
And remember, you don’t have to manufacture a particular emotional experience to be welcomed by Jesus. Come to him.
Finally, practice what Jonathan called good gossip.
Gossip ordinarily tears people down through conversations they never hear. But imagine turning that impulse around. Talk about what God is doing in someone’s life. Celebrate repentance. Share stories of generosity, restored relationships, spiritual growth, and quiet obedience.
Tell someone when you see evidence of God’s grace in another believer. Become a Titus in someone’s life. Bring encouragement. Carry good news. Help others recognize the work of the Holy Spirit. And welcome a Titus into your own life.
The church isn’t a collection of perfect people pretending they have everything together. It’s a community of redeemed sinners learning to follow Jesus together.
There will be difficult conversations. There will be tears. There will be moments when correction hurts and repentance requires more than an apology.
But the story doesn’t have to end there.
God comforts the downcast. He restores what sin has fractured. He uses his people to strengthen one another. And through Jesus Christ, he makes possible a shared joy that’s deeper than the temporary relief of getting our own way.
The grief that turns us toward Christ doesn’t have the final word.
Jesus does.
Song of the Week: The Author - Brandon Lake ft Nick Jonas
I absolutely love what Brandon Lake has been doing these past few years, bringing unlikely, predominantly secular artists onto features for his songs. It started with Jelly Roll back in early 2025, and now, in 2026, we have Nick Jonas joining him on a track. I love seeing these unexpected collaborations, and I think they bring an interesting opportunity to introduce people to music that carries a message they might not otherwise encounter.
But it’s not just about the feature. This song could have had anybody on it, or simply been Brandon singing by himself, and it would still excite me just as much. The message behind it is what really grabs my attention.
“The Author” tells a story that many of us can relate to, myself included, especially if you continue reading into this week’s Week in Reflection. It’s been a while since some of us have picked up our Bibles, to the point where there might even be a little dust collecting on them. We get caught up in life, distracted by circumstances, or convince ourselves that we simply don’t have the time. Yet God is the Author of that story, and in turn, He’s the Author of ours.
Think about that for a moment. With all our circumstances, excuses, doubts, and whatever else we use to justify the direction we’re heading, who are we to question the pen in the hands of the ultimate Author? He knows the beginning, the middle, and the end. He sees the bigger picture when all we can see is the page directly in front of us.
The repeating ending of this song catches me every single time, “I’m ink in the pen in the hands of The Author.”
What a powerful reminder of who’s actually writing the story. God uses us to tell our stories, but those stories should point people back to Him. Our experiences, our failures, our victories, and even the circumstances we wish had gone differently can all become opportunities to show others who God is. Our lives aren’t meant to be stories centered on ourselves. They’re meant to reflect the One who gave us life in the first place.
So I pray we would all take Brandon’s song into consideration. If the Author of the universe has us in His hands, and we’re the ink in His pen, how’re we going to live moving forward? Are we going to keep trying to write our own stories, or are we going to trust the One who knows exactly how the story is supposed to unfold?
I’m ink in the pen in the hands of The Author. What a reminder to live like it.
Week in Reflection
This week has left me filled with a renewed zeal for God’s Word, and honestly, it’s something I’ve been praying would happen for quite some time.
With Connection Church preparing to transition to the CSB translation next year, we’ve had the opportunity to purchase new Bibles at the church as we get ready to read through the entire Bible together in 2027. I’ll confess, my motivation to consistently open God’s Word and spend time reading has been pretty low recently. I know how important it is, and I know the nourishment it provides for my walk with Jesus, but knowing something and actually putting it into practice are two very different things.
However, something happened when I brought home my new Bible and opened it for the first time. A spark was lit. Suddenly, I found myself wanting to read more, spend more time in Scripture, and simply sit with God’s Word. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in a little while, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.
Recently, I‘ve relied on The Bible App on my phone for my daily reading. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with using the app, and it certainly makes Scripture accessible wherever you go, I wonder if having my Bible on the same device as everything else has contributed to some of the distractions and lack of motivation I’ve been experiencing. There’s something different about physically picking up a Bible, turning its pages, seeing the words in front of you, and intentionally setting aside time to read. It feels less like another task on a screen and more like an opportunity to spend time with the Lord.
I don’t know if this renewed excitement will feel the same every day, and I know there will be mornings when getting out of bed and opening my Bible will be more difficult than others. But I pray that this zeal continues to grow and that my desire for God’s Word doesn’t depend on how I feel on any given day. I want to pursue Scripture because I want to know God more, understand His character, and continually be reminded of the truth He’s given us.
So, I hope you all stick around for this journey into the CSB next year! Reading through the entire Bible together in 2027 is something I’m genuinely excited about. My prayer is that this isn’t simply about checking off chapters or completing a reading plan, but about growing closer to God through His Word, one day at a time.
And remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I.
Connection Church in Sioux Falls is a gospel-centered community committed to helping people follow Jesus through authentic relationships, biblical teaching, and everyday mission. Rooted in historic Christian belief and aligned with gospel renewal movements, the church exists to see lives transformed by Jesus. Learn more: https://siouxfallsconnection.com/who-we-are
