Dear HCMC,
What is the place of sorrow in the Christian life? This question has been on my mind and heart as I enter the season of Lent.
I am reminded of the film Inside Out, the first film released in 2015. For those who are unfamiliar with the story: the whole plot is largely played out in the mind of the main character, an 11-year-old American girl named Riley Andersen. Inside her, there are five personified emotions that influence her actions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Joy is the leader, and she sees that her job is to keep Riley happy, and to rally the other emotions towards that end.
Now, Riley is going through a really rough patch as her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. She is displaced from her familiar environment and separated from her friends during a formative season of her life. Despite Joy’s best efforts to make her happy, things get from bad to worse throughout the story, to the point that Riley almost leaves home and abandons her parents. At the last moment, Riley is saved from this situation when Sadness steps in.
Joy and the other emotions had been trying to suppress Sadness this whole time, thinking if Sadness featured more in Riley’s emotions, that would only make matters worse. On the contrary, they learn at the end that Sadness is the hero of the story. It is only when Riley expresses her sadness to her parents, and weeps in their loving arms, that relationships are restored, and the situation begins to turn around.
That cathartic moment, when Riley is crying in her parents’ embrace, pictures the truly important place of sorrow in bringing healing and restoration in our lives.
Let’s face it—life is tough. No one has it easy. I often find myself saying that if someone seems to be enjoying a totally smooth-sailing life, we simply do not know the person well enough. Everybody is “normal” till we get to know them better.
Our Christian faith makes ample room for sadness and sorrow. Jesus wept. Jesus knew the depths of human suffering when He walked this earth. Now, He invites us to cast our cares upon Him; to turn to Him in our sin, struggle and sorrow. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
Lent season is an invitation to cultivate godly sorrow. As we grapple with the things that bring us sorrow, let us keep asking ourselves: How is my sorrow leading me to Jesus? If you are not a believer, perhaps God is calling out to you through your pain and suffering to put your trust in Jesus. If you have been far from God, then sorrow might be His way of calling you back into His loving embrace. If you are self-satisfied, then God might be challenging you toward greater sorrow over your sins. If you think that as a Christian, you must have it all together, and that becoming a strain on you, perhaps it is time to come authentically before Jesus and pour out your sorrow to Him.
May we walk closely with Jesus our suffering Saviour and wounded Healer this Lent. In so doing, may our godly sorrow lead us unto life.
Rev Timothy
