I was walking accross campus from class today and I started thinking.
Arcturus mentioned this verse in a thread
2 Cor 7 : 10 For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and IT NEVER BRINGS REGRET; but worldly grief, the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world, is deadly, breeding and ending in death.
and was talking about how the repentant thief had godly grief and the other criminal on the cross had worldly grief.
It made me think because although I am very fortunate in this physical life I have been thinking about the world. I think about where the US is headed, poverty, Darfur etc etc. I also sometimes wonder why God lets some people suffer so horribly especially those that are relatively innocent (young children). I bet the other criminal had these sorts of thoughts. Maybe he justified himself and thought well the world is messed up anyway so why does it matter that I do wrong things. The thief was probably ashamed at how sinful he was once he saw how holy Christ was even while he was sufferring so much.
So after a few steps I thought well if God is saving everyone, then its not bad for God to allow so much sufferring. If there was no sufferring in the world then how would we develop great spiritual qualities like compassion? Then I remembered how Jesus talked about the vine and bearing fruit and how Ray said God's purpose for humanity is creating spiritual sons and daughters in his image.
So I think I realized that instead of doubting God I should be praising him and obeying. I also remembered MLK's last speech and how he encouraged his listeners to overcome rather than be troubled with "worldly grief". He compared the African-American struggle to the Hebrews journeying out of Egypt to the promised land.
Rom 8:18 For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us.
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Topic: Worldly Grief (Read 4286 times)