2 Corinthians 7:10

2 Corinthians 7:10-11 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. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. I'm generally a chipper, happy person, or at least I'd like to think so. People usually consider this a good quality (and so do I, most of the time). In spite of my general cheerfulness, I've been thinking about sorrow a lot lately. Perhaps it's because I work with refugees: people who have experienced a significant amount of sorrow in their lives. Many are living in sorrow continually for fear of the lives of their family members back home and in distress because of the prolonged separation. Last week, I had a discussion with my more advanced English class about what their favorite book is about. Most of my students in that class are Armenian and many of them said the books they read the most are about the Armenian Genocide. I don't know how familiar you are with Armenian history, but to give you an idea, Armenia is a tiny country north of Iran and East of Turkey. In 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were mercilessly slaughtered, but were never really able to fight back or even receive an apology or acknowledgement of the genocide from the Turkish government. I knew vaguely of it at the time (and I just began reading a history of it today to familiarize myself with the tragedy). My students, only one or two generations away from such a horrendous event, still hold the sorrow of it in their hearts. History has forgotten this tragedy. Why? I believe its because, as humans (especially American ones), we shy away from that which makes us feel uncomfortable. Sorrow, truly deep sorrow, is not a comfortable feeling, even more so the sorrow of someone else. Personally, if there is nothing I can do to alleviate someone's suffering, my tendency is to push it under the rug. I offer my sympathy, but the moment there is an opportunity to leave, I'm gone. America did this as a nation after WWI, and continues to ignore the Genocide today. (I never learned about the Armenian Genocide in any of my history classes in High School or College). I think there are two ways to respond to tragedy (whether on a huge scale like a genocide or the stuff happening in Syria and other nations right now, or on a smaller scale, like the death of a family member). The first way is to wallow in self-pity and thoughts of revenge and hatred (against God or man). I believe that is worldly sorrow. Personally, I'm very well acquainted with this type of sorrow: I can beat myself up over just about anything and I'm the queen of pity-parties. However, that is a sinful response and only leads to more sorrow, and according to this verse, death. There is such a thing as godly sorrow. I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on it, or even heard it talked about much between believers, but it exists and I think according to Scripture, it is necessary. Even though looking our sin in the face is uncomfortable, it is absolutely necessary to our salvation. There is not repentance without this sorrow. I think, in the midst of our comfort-driven culture, we have adapted Christianity to avoid the sorrow part of our journey. I think we assume people already feel enough guilt/judgment/sorrow for their sin. We think it immoral, unkind, or simply rude to bring about sorrow for someone else. However, encouraging and allowing someone to experience this godly sorrow is the most loving thing we can do for them and for ourselves. This kind of sorrow doesn't bring death or more hurt. It brings life and healing. It brings hope and peace that we have salvation in God alone. We can fully experience the joy and ecstasy God's grace brings, unless we first experience the sorrow of our own sin and realize what He has saved us from. I am far from understanding this, but it has been my constant prayer this week that I would fully see my sin as God sees it and that I would fully realize His immeasurable grace in my life. So, as callous as it may seem, I'm praying that you would be filled with sorrow for your sin and that you would also experience the real life, peace, and joy that only salvation in Christ can bring.