Good Grief!

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

2 Corinthians 7:10

Does God want you to be happy? 

You might be surprised to find out the answer is...not always. But this is an unavoidable truth of the verse above. It tells us that there are two types of sorrow. One is from God and is actually a good gift from Him. There are times that God wants you to experience pain and grief. Let's see why. 

Godly sorrow causes pain in order to turn you away from your sin. It leads you to repent of your sin and experience the salvation of being set right with God. So it causes you grief for a period of time in order to work good for you in the end. We shouldn't regret experiencing this kind of sorrow. 

But our world, on the other hand, is full of another kind of sorrow that leads to death. It's a sorrow from which there is no escape because it finds no hope in Jesus as its cure. When people are trapped in sorrow without hope they begin to despair and in their despair they reach for the only comfort they know...more sin. The momentary relief their sin affords them is all the hope they have left. So, far from rescuing them from their sins, this kind of grief drives them to reach for more sin in order to cope with the pain their sin has caused. What a mind numbing cycle!

So understand that not all sorrow or grief is bad. Some of it is actually a gift of God sent to turn you back to Him. Make up your mind to find your hope in God. Don't allow grief to harden you in your sin. And think about that lost friend of yours. Confronting them with their sin may cause them a little grief at first, but could it lead to their salvation in the end? If so, it is most definitely worth it. 

How blessed is the ailment that sends me fleeing to You, Jesus, my cure! Though it makes my soul feverish with pain and grief, yet I will bless the day this sorrow found me for it led me to my only true salvation. Your godly sorrow came to bless and not to curse. It led me to salvation and left no trace of regret in its wake.