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Friday, January 07, 2011
Today: Sorrow that is good and needed!
Reading Passages: 2 Cor 7
9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.(2 Cor 7: 9-11, NKJV-emphasis added)
I have seen a book titled “Don’t waste your sorrows”
The world’s perspective on life is opposite to that of God’s
Paul says that it was good that he made some sorrow in the hearts of the Corinthian Christians
Today, we see no discipline like that; In many cases, people who do wrong are not told that they are doing wrong
While Godly sorrow leads to repentance, worldly sorrow leads to guilt feeling and spiritual death
After denying Jesus, Peter had Godly sorrow that led him to repentance and restoration; but Judas had worldly sorrow which led him to death
Joy could be dangerous when it is all worldly joy. One might do a lot of sin when they have just worldly joy for some reason. We often see people getting into accidents and even death, because of a graduation party or something like that. But joy in the spirit comes with wisdom, and there is self-control. Real joy is the joy of the Holy Spirit
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation (2 Cor 7; 4, NKJV-emphasis added)
The Bible encourages us to rejoice (in Christ) and not to be discouraged
If our joy comes from abundance of material possessions, it could be the unbiblical type of Joy
In the same way, if our sorrow is for lack of material possessions or for anything that is earthly, it could be a sin (Phil 4: 4-6)
The word of God warns us not to worry about such things, but to put it all on God (1 Peter 5:7)
If our sorrow is about souls that are perishing and that we are doing nothing about it, that kind of sorrow is good. Unfortunately, we never have that kind of sorrow; we have enough of our own things to worry about!
If our sorrow is about wasting lot of our precious time every day doing nothing much for God, that may lead to something good
If our sorrow is about not praying enough and not meditating the word enough, that is good
But if we are worried about a certain team who did not win that game, what can we do about it after all?
So, keep only the sorrow that is good; get rid of that which does us no good!
It is important to have Godly sorrow; if we don’t have that, the consequences can be scary. Not having Godly sorrow can be dangerous!
There are many called by God to do much and doing nothing, and having no sorrow about that
May God give you sorrow that is good and take away from you sorrow that is bad. Be a blessing to someone in sorrow!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for speaking to me. Help me to get rid of sorrow that is bad and get sorrow that is good. Amen