In order to grow in our Christian life, we need to experience challenges.
To build our godliness, it’s just like building our muscles: no pain, no gain.
And yet, many Christians act as if this is not true. They act as though following Jesus suddenly made us healthy, wealthy and happy in this life.
Yet, that’s not life, this side of heaven.
In order to grow as God’s children, we should expect life to have many challenges.
Sure, there may be times of happiness and pleasure, but we would be naïve to expect to be free from pain and grief.
In today’s section from the Bible in 2 Corinthians, we get an insight into the emotional heart of the Apostle Paul, the man through whom God planted the church in the city of Corinth.
And the relationship between Paul and the church he founded was certainly not one of simplicity and pleasure.
It was really ‘up’ and ‘down’ in so many ways.
But as we understand the nature of their relationship, we get a privileged insight into the nature of God and the nature of us, his created people.
And today, as the title of this Bible talk suggests, we learn about ‘good grief’, or more specifically, ‘godly grief’.
And we’ll see how this good grief leads to great outcomes, despite the pain of that grief.