Weeping and laughing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WEEPING AND LAUGHING

Luke 6:20-23

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

NIV

Blessed, happy, content, satisfied, and fulfilled are we when we weep now for, we will be laughing later. What? We are blessed because we weep, mourn, or lament? What are we weeping or mourning about? It is interesting this Greek word, Klaioo, carries the meaning of weeping as a sign of pain and grief for the thing signified. Certainly, we do not weep and mourn or lament because of a few aches and pains that are a result of our aging body. However, living in this body in the here and now might well be the reason we should weep, mourn, and lament, for as long as we are captive in this corruptible and perishable body, we are absent from being in the everlasting face-to-face presence with our God. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Paul tells us. this mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. This mortal form with be clothed with immortality, and indeed we will be laughing as a sign of rejoicing for we will be standing in the eternal presence of our Lord. We will see God face to face, and live forever in his kingdom, in a place that Jesus prepared just for us. However, in the meantime, although we are weeping because of being struck in the perishable form, we are also clothed right now, with God's incredible armor so that we can take our stand against the spiritual forces of this dark world and the schemes of the devil, because we are operating in the spiritual realm with the armor of God. We can also rejoice now even if we are weeping, for we know the truth of our salvation and our future with God. We can rejoice as we look forward to the age that is coming, even if we are weeping in this present age. So we weep and we laugh.