We are a feel-good society. Instant potatoes, drive-through windows, and the ultimate: Starbucks coffee.
On Facebook, we rate our favorites, skip those channels on TV we don’t like, and check out a hotel’s rating before calling for reservations. We even know whether we’ll enjoy a movie before we hit the theater.
Is it possible for everyone to be happy? Are we ever happy that other people are unhappy? Do we ever want other people to be unhappy?
The essence of making someone unhappy in order to create happiness is at the core of the slapstick movie. A character slams another character into a brick wall, he falls down, and we all laugh. Funny.
Or is it? Certainly not to the one who hit the wall.
Paul had written a scathing letter to the church at Corinth. Afterward, in 2 Corinthians 7:7, Titus returned from Corinth and shared with Paul the church’s sadness at the things he had written to them.
Paul seems callus as he writes his reply: “Now, I am happy.”
If we stop right there, we have the plot for a modern slapstick movie, one in which the first character intentionally inflicts pain on the second, then expects us to find it amusing. However, Paul didn’t mean it quite like it sounded. The sorrow his letter brought about in the Corinthian church sparked a much desired result. The members of the church became determined to change their ways, and that brought them closer to God.
God’s truth begins to come to light. Paul goes on to explain that when God gives us sorrow, it is only to cause us to repent and change our lives. When God gives us sadness that leads to repentance, it is a very good thing, indeed. If God’s sorrow leads to salvation, who can be sad about that?
We must understand that God's sorrow is different from the world’s sorrow. God’s sorrow is because we have wronged him. He wants us to know he is hurting because of us, and that his heart is tender toward us. He grieves for his loss, and hopes that we will begin to grieve with him.
We see evidence of this in 2 Corinthians 7:10. The Scriptures tell us that earthly sorrow does nothing but bring death, while God’s sorrow brings a change of character.
2 Timothy 2:25 reveals a truth we cannot turn away from. If we are servants of the Lord, we must offer everyone the opportunity to come to the Lord. If God brings about this change through sorrow, we must be there to ease the way, gently helping the wounded back to Christ.
We do this in the hopes that God will let them change their minds and accept his truth. Then God’s sorrow will turn into a time for our rejoicing.
God is gentle and kind, and his ways are above our ways. His sorrow will draw us to him, and for that, we can rejoice.
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