Sorrow, Godly

Ryan McClure, addressing the topic of human regret and Godly remorse, maintains that feelings of remorse and regret have the possibility of either leading to destruction or to repentance. Examples of regret and remorse permeate the scripture, including the. . .

Jesus anticipated what was coming on the nation, prepared for it as well as He could, and persevered through it along with the rest of His fellow citizens.

True repentance involves pain, particularly emotional pain. To repent is wrenching to the psyche. It really hurts because it is difficult to do.

When we repent, we turn off the path that leads to destruction and onto the narrow path—through the strait gate—that leads to life in the Kingdom of God.

We can learn a great deal from the sore trial of Job, particularly what God did to bring him to the point of repentance. ...

Repentance is a condition for baptism, and ultimately of conversion and salvation. It is also a lifelong process—one never stops needing to repent.

Pain is not something we normally consider positive, nor is guilt. However, David Maas argues, guilt is like pain in that it is a spiritual warning signal to change course!

We all have low days, but when our despondency turns to self-pity, we have a problem. 'Woe is me' can hamper our growth because it is self-centeredness.

People often give up when tragedy or adversity strikes. We all make mistakes. But God does not want His people to think that failure is the end of the road.

Blessedness and mourning seem contradictory, but obviously Jesus saw spiritual benefits to sorrow. True, godly mourning gets high marks from God.

Nothing happens in our lives (including repentance) until God initiates it. A change of heart, by God's Holy Spirit, results in a total change of direction.

The contrite or brokenhearted person finds special favor with God, and a humble or contrite spirit is indeed a precursor to forgiveness and spiritual healing.

Ted Bowling, acknowledging that God has perfect memory, reminds us that God chooses not to remember our sins as long as we don't repeat them. We, on the other hand are often plagued with the memories of past guilt come for sins we have committed. Guilt is . . .

We accept most of our opinions, prejudices, and beliefs unconsciously. We must scrutinize our own beliefs through the principles of God's Holy Scriptures.

John Ritenbaugh distinguishes a temple from a synagogue, indicating that there was but one temple in Jerusalem, a monument to God, having very little preaching, but many synagogues in each town. Jesus taught in their synagogues in services which contained . . .

We may feel sorry or even guilty when we sin, but have we actually repented? The Scriptures show that true repentance produces these seven, distinct fruits.

Richard Ritenbaugh warns that these laments contain little that is jovial or uplifting, but instead are saturated in despair, sorrow, mourning, and even recrimination against God on the part of a personified Jerusalem, whom God depicts as a grieving widow,. . .

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 highlight the Bible's attitude toward death, particularly its insistence that we allow the reality of death to change our approach to life.

Richard Ritenbaugh, asking why Christians should ruminate about sorrow and grief instead of focusing on happy thoughts, reminds us that death and suffering are staple features of the human condition and that we need to learn how to handle grief and loss, t. . .

David Grabbe, examining the saying, "ignorance is bliss," implying that a measure of peace may come to us if we do not know something that might be disturbing, cautions us that this ignorance is dangerous when it comes to the spiritual preparatio. . .