It's Hard to Dance with the Devil on Your Back
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians and was worried that his corrective tone may have been too harsh, but later found out that it led to repentance. He rejoiced for this outcome and saw that their sorrow produced repentance. The verse above gives two types of sorrow: 1. godly 2. worldly. I believe that these are the difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction draws a person into relationship with God while condemnation drives them away from his presence.
The person who feels condemnation, is not feeling a work of the God. John 3:17 says that God didn't send His son to condemn the world, and Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. But the Holy Spirit does convict the world of sin (John 16:8).
Most of the time condemnation is mentioned, in the New Testament, its source is other people or self. Condemnation is like the worldly sorrow mentioned in 2 Cor. 7:10 which produces death. I believe that God can bring conviction into a person's life and the Devil will try to use that to destroy you.
When God convicts your heart saying, "stop staring at that girl, that is lust," the Devil steps right up after that with condemnation saying, "you pervert." I believe this kind of thing happens regularly and is the reason many people never grow, they listen to the lies, which are simply exaggerated truths, and feel too horrible to set foot in church, to read their bible, to pray, or to worship. If you feel like you can't do something that will bring you closer to God because you feel "unworthy," you are dwelling in condemnation.
God wants us to live a life fully surrendered to Him. He would never make you feel so bad that you couldn't turn to Him. So next time you feel conviction praise God for it and don't make it worse than it is. If you begin to feel condemnation remember the words of Florence Welsh from Florence and the Machine, "It's hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off." Don't let condemnation get the best of you, but be forever changed by the wonderful conviction of God.
