We spend too much effort trying to feel good, when often we will derive greater benefit from feeling bad. Our culture is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. People want to be in situations and with people that make them feel good. One of the most commonly cited reasons why people leave jobs and relationships is because they were not made happy by these situations. But maybe that job or relationship was highlighting something bad about them. When this is the case, we need to allow ourselves to feel the impact of what is wrong with us. Paul commends the Corinthians here for their response to a ‘painful letter’ that he sent them (sometime between the two letters to the Corinthians we now have). At least some of them received Paul’s chastisement humbly. They did not strike back at him for making them feel bad. As a result, they were saved from going astray. Given that we often go astray, it is therefore often beneficial for us to feel bad about ourselves. The road to restoration begins with sadness over what is broken. Don’t pursue happiness. Pursue the truth. The truth is that there is some great fault in your life right now. But it is also true that this does not determine your value or identity. Most wonderfully, the truth is that God wants to forgive and restore you. It is the willingness to face the pain of our faults that first enables us to see this.
Ask God to show you what grieves him in you.
Read 2 Corinthians 7:2-16
