Mourn for comfort

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

MOURN FOR COMFORT

Matt 5:4

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

NIV

To experience the inner peace because of grief, or grieving, which is to mourn is the context here. What is it we should mourn or grieve about? Two areas come to mind and are most likely the intent of our Lord in these words. First is to grieve over the lost condition of those who have not accepted Jesus as Savior. The second is to grieve over the sin of fellow believers as well as the sin in our own lives.

2 Cor 12:21

21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

NIV

It is apparent Paul was mourning over the sinful condition of other believers who were caught up in sin without repentance. Should we not grieve, feel sorrow and anguish over people who are living in the state of sin? Should we not grieve over our fellow believers who find themselves continually sinning? Sure we might not know about their sin, as most of us do not live as transparent a life as we should. It may also be that most of the sin we believers commit is in our thoughts rather than deeds. Although the sin of gossip does seem to leave our thoughts and become a deed. Judgmental attitudes may also get expressed in some form of deed. Nevertheless, without enumerating all the sin believers could be guilty of, rather than judge them, we should mourn for them. This then also applies in the second way. We should be mourning over our own sin. This would especially be true in our having a judgmental attitude about another believer’s sin. But the truth of the matter is, we should mourn because we have sin in our life. We cannot find consolation for sin in the world. In fact, it is the world that offers us the opportunity to commit sin. It has been said the some drown their sorrows in drink or drugs. But that does not bring about comfort, but rather more sorrow, depression and despair. Jesus says that when we mourn over our sin, we will be comforted. This Greek word implies to call near, to invite, invoke, consolation. Jesus said that we who are heavy laden should come to him and he would give us rest.

Matt 11:28-30

28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

NIV

We will get to these words of Christ again, as we journey through this gospel, but for now let us take comfort in the fact that as we mourn, grieve over the sin that is in our lives, Jesus will give us rest. We should never be content with any sin in our lives. It would seem that might be easier said than done. When we confess that we are not perfect, that we will never be perfect, are we making an excuse for having sin in our lives? Yet the fact is we will never be completely free of all sin. But whether we accept that fact and are comfortable with it, or we mourn or grieve because of it, is the point. Acceptance of sin in our lives does not bring us any comfort. Mourning because of the sin in our lives brings us comfort, it gives us rest, and we can repose in Jesus. Does that mean we should just continue to sin so that God’s grace can abound? By no means!  But the fact is we do still sin and for the most part we engage in sin willingly. How could we sin against our own will, or unwillingly? Still it comes down to the fact we can never be content with this situation in our lives. We should mourn over our failures, our weaknesses, our sin.