Good (Godly) Grief!

I remember reading the Peanuts cartoons when I was a kid, you know, the ones with Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Charlie Brown never seemed to have anything go right for him, and often would exclaim in frustration “Good Grief!” He wasn’t calling grief good, I think, but was rather lamenting that the constant grief in his life was omnipresent, as God is. The thing is, grief hurts. It absolutely tears one apart, and we have it for so many reasons. Some of us have it because we are going through loss, others because they are carrying around regret, and still others because, like Charlie Brown, nothing ever seems to go right.

Did you know that there is a time and a place for grief, and even a (truly) good grief? Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time to mourn and a time to dance. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus, and also grieved over what was going to happen to Jerusalem 40 years after he was crucified, and, quite often, was grieved in His spirit over the spiritual state of His people. 2 Corinthians 7, however, speaks of a beneficial grief. Paul had to be harsh, at times with the Corinthians Church. From false teachers to pride to rampant sin in the Church, Paul had to correct (and, at times, not so gently) the Corinthian Church. As a father to children, Paul disciplined the members of the church at Corinth because they would stray from what they were taught, and it would grieve their spirits. However, this grief led them to repent of their sins and turn back to Christ.

All to often, we want to soften the blow of the Gospel. When we correct, we dance around the subject. And yet, we see in Scripture that we sometimes need to be blunt and tell the hard truths so that people will return to the truth of Christ. We cannot spare feelings and must always seek to draw people back to the truth, especially when eternity is involved! All too often, we gently love people in to hell, and that is a dangerous prospect! Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and do so out of love, but use God’s word, and use it to correct, rebuke and exhort (2 Timothy 3:16-17)! Our enemies are not flesh and blood, and our great enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for a soul to devour. So speak the truth to your neighbor (Ephesians 4:25)! Don’t waste opportunities, and seek to draw people back to Christ.  

2 Corinthians 7

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted.

And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.