Beatitudes - Blessed are those who mourn...

Matt. 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

As we look at the second Beatitude, we come to another one that seems very unappealing. This verse tells us that we will sit under God’s blessing if we mourn. Mourning is not something that we would all naturally aspire to. They way that we use the term “blessing” these days, there doesn’t seem to be any connection at all between blessing and mourning.

Digging deeper into the use of the word mourning here, the key to understanding these words of Jesus is to understand what it is we are to mourn over. Rather than the natural mourning for a loss that we typically think of, this passage if referring to spiritual mourning. Mourning in the spiritual sense is a sorrow for our sins that leads to repentance. That completely changes the way that we see this verse, doesn’t it?

Here are some of the marks of spiritual mourning:

1. It arises from humility. This really goes back to the first beatitude where we are called to be “poor in spirit.” We mourn our sins because we know that we cannot save ourselves and we are completely dependent upon God for salvation. This produces a humble spirit that has godly sorrow when we sin.

2. It produces a change of heart. We should not be content in continuing in cycles of sin. That certainly doesn’t mean that we won’t sin, but it does mean that we won’t be content to live in unrepentant sin. Confession names our sins before God - repentence means that we take a new direction by turning from our sins. 2 Tim. 2:19 “The Lord knows those who are His;” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to keep away from wickedness.”

3. It is infused with hope. Our Enemy wants us to live defeated lives - to be despondent. If we were relying on ourselves to have to keep the Law to be saved, this is exactly how we would feel. But, we have Jesus. He is our hope. We will fail to be fully obedient but when we are at the end of ourselves, we have the hope that Christ offers waiting for us.

   Do we mourn our sins? Do we feel the weight of them? These are important questions to think about. Feeling the weight of our sins doesn’t mean that we are to carry them around. It means that we are to be sorrowful for them before God in prayer. Confess and then repent. Confess and repent again.

   Faith and believe are not the same thing. James 2:19 Even the demons believe—and shudder! Faith transforms. We don’t become a perfect creation but we do become a “new creation.” If we have spiritual mourning in our lives, this beatitude tells us that we will be “comforted.” It is our faith, not just our belief that will lead us to this comfort - the comfort of knowing that in Christ our sins are forgiven.

   Stay hungry,

   Big E

   Matt. 5:6