Title: Godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:8)
God's Willing Sorrow
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
Someone asked. “Do you know what it would be if we reduced traffic accidents to three characters?” When I said that I didn’t know, they said “Bungeoppang”. [John F. Kennedy] once said, “There are three things that are true in the world. God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond human understanding. Therefore, all we can do is laugh a third time and we have to do this.” Gentlemen, the more intelligent you are, the more you are prepared to laugh and the more you appreciate humor. In other words, the smarter the person, the more sensitive and responsive they are to humor. Let's see how intelligent you are. One day the son asks his father, “Daddy! There are ten glutinous rice cakes, and I ate three of them. Then how many are left?”, “That’s seven.” Then my son said, “Wrong. There are three left.” Yes. When the absurd father asks, “No, why?” the son naturally replies, “Why did you say adults have leftovers?” Let's become intelligent people who are sensitive to humor.
When we ask Korean parents, “What kind of person do you want your children to be when they grow up?” most of their wishes are set. They say that they want to be a technician, a scholar, a pharmacist, a doctor, or a judge. However, unlike us, Western parents have slightly different wishes. Do you know what it is? It's "don't lose your smile." So, in [General MacArthur]'s famous prayer for his children, he finds the words "Help me not to lose my smile...". It's very different. In fact, isn’t everything contained in the content of “Please don’t lose your smile”? We lose our laughter, and we grow old. It's not that I don't laugh because I don't know how to laugh. It's lost. At some point, worries, worries, and concerns have taken away our laughter.
Level 2 is a person who clings to the future. In a way, you might be mistaken for the right life. However, it is like a rainbow, investing the present only for the future, for good things to come, and for the vague future. How foolish is it to invest in the present in an uncertain future? A present without a future is a problem, but a future without a present is also a problem. It's an old-fashioned gamnae (苦盡甘來). It is said that it is a consultation with God (臥薪嘗膽), but how valuable would it be if the future was certain? However, the problem is that we face the vague and uncertain future and endure the very difficult hardships we do not have to go through now. There are worries, there are worries, and there are times when you live with worries. But I see all of this as a trick to the vague future of not knowing what it is. It's a really, really hard life. I think most people will probably live in this second class.
So, what would life be like on a first-class level? It's about being content with the present. Someone who can say, “I am the happiest person in the world right now.” I am a person who thinks today is the happiest day of my life. Who do you think is the most satisfying today For today, I am a person who can say that I have lived my whole life. How are you? Are we still a long way from living a first-class life? Let's do one more thing. Those who can say "You can die like this" are of a special rank. There is nothing more to hope for and nothing more to expect. For this person, the past is just a stepping stone for the present, and the future is not in my hands. What I mean is that I lived, lived, and would live every day to the best of my ability. Of course there is a future. But it does not completely belong to me, but to God. There is a master of that future, and he will lead it. It's different from looking at the vague future and feeling exhausted.
We are people who have to live a first-class life, even if not so special. But why do we still live in anxieties and worries? If you think about it, it is said that modern people have several mental disorders and they live with anxiety and anxiety because of them.
Is the concept different from the word "everyone"? is a work in progress. A disease is something that can get worse or get better. If you say, however, the disease has stopped. A condition in which we can no longer expect more is called a disability.
Now, if we look at the mental disorders that modern people suffer from, there is a saying: Everyone has something called “anxiety”. The problem, however, is that the person is overwhelmed by this anxiety. So, when the ability to resist anxiety is exhausted, it develops from the disease stage to the stage of disability. So I am always anxious, unable to get rid of anxiety, and I live as a being completely obsessed with anxiety. This is what is called among the syndromes of modern people.
The second obstacle is. If you look at the situation, it is understandable that there is no risk and that it is not dangerous. But there is a fear that I know and cannot contain, and the mind and the heart play separately. Reason and emotion are separated from each other. Suffering from anxiety of unknown cause. There is no reason to be anxious or fearful, but thoughts and hearts tremble with anxiety. This is it.
Another thing is called. To put it bluntly, I'm worried that I'm going to die in everything. I think of all situations only in the unfavorable way. I am anxious because of thoughts like ‘What if I die on the bus today’ or ‘What if I die after not eating this food well?’ It is hard to bear. In the old days of Qi in China, there was a saying that “the people of Qi were worried” because someone worried about whether the sky would fall or the earth would go down, and because they could not eat or sleep and were worried. In fact, who doesn't die just because they're afraid of dying? One day in a fishing village, when there was a severe storm, my father died while going out on a boat. The next day after attending his father's funeral, the son boards the boat and goes out to sea again. So the people of the town said, “Man, your father died while going out in that boat. Are you going to go out in that boat again?” So what this son is saying is, “Let me ask you one thing. Where did your father die?” "He died in the bedroom", "Then you don't sleep in the bedroom?" This anxiety is that the more you think about it, the more endless it is and the more you can't get out of it.
There is one more thing. It is not believing in yourself regardless of your will. So, “Did you turn off the gas in the house or not?” There are people sitting here worrying. Yes, I go out and make phone calls and go back and forth. Also, “Is the key locked or not?” He comes down the stairs and goes up to touch it. And when they come down, they go up and down, saying, “Stay still, didn’t I open the locked door and come down?” When I start to doubt myself, there is no end. Climb up and down all day. is it All the smiling people are ex-convicts.
Disability, this is an incurable disease. Once the worries and worries pass away, they cannot be healed. None of the worries of the world are free from these things. The worries of the world are obvious things. Worry about material damage. Worrying about not getting what you want. If you think about all these things, it all has to do with my greed. It has to do with my honor. It's a matter of my face in front of others. Concerns over these issues are overdone. Worrying, worrying, and worrying as the disease progresses to the stage of an incurable disorder. Because of that, I can't even do the worries I should be doing.
Look at today's text verse 10. It is said that there is no regret and it is the sorrow that produces repentance that leads to salvation. Even though they say they believe, they realize that their actions are out of God's will, mourn with all their heart, and worry about how to find a way to stand right before God again. I said that I believe in Jesus because I go to church, but my actions are still so shameful as a believer in Jesus. There is something I haven't stopped. It sometimes entangles me and makes me worse than someone I never believe in. It tells us to worry about how we can cut it off and fix it. This is something that can only be fixed with care.
In the end, it is not important whether or not you overcome anxiety, but how you deal with it, that is, whether you follow God's will or do it in a worldly way.
You cannot live without worry. It is our life to live worrying in any way. But the question of what to worry about is an important issue. You will know without asking what is the importance of the sorrow leading to death or the sorrow leading to salvation. Thinking of God's grace, great love, and the love I have received, I am sorry that I have not been able to become his child now, so we should be interested in this. I have been given a position, so I don't need to be so interested in worship! Can't you believe it like you believe it a little more? The Lord loved me even to the point of laying down his precious life, so isn't the act of faith I am showing now too shameful? Shouldn't we at least be able to look back at ourselves every day in the face of this kind of anxiety? This is it.
Dear saints,
Do not expect to be trouble-free, but rather be anxiously concerned about the troubles you should have. Do God's will, think of God's kingdom, and be immersed in His willful sorrow. Then you will be free from unnecessary worries. What kind of worries do you live in? From today, I hope you will be worried about what you should be really worried about. I hope that you will draw closer to God with sorrow with repentance, salvation, and maturity.