Matthew 5 Cont'd
“Blessed are those
who mourn, for they shall be comforted”
Mourning is a part of life, as all things must eventually end. The
kind of mourning being referred to here is godly sorrow that brings
repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). This is regularly occurs in the life
of a believer. What usually happens is that a person thinks they have
everything together God-wise but discover a habit that separates
them from Him. This process of being perfected by the Holy Spirit is
called sanctification, and its not all happy, as we've grown up to
understand happy. We're letting go of things we've allowed to define
us: relationships, attitudes, even things we thought were godly like
“sanctified gossip.” This sorrow is not hurtful but relieving, a
necessary surgery for the soul. With the loss comes a release of
pressure, we only just became aware of. Tears may come, but they are
the tears of life, for mourners shall be comforted.
The word for comfort here means to come close to or to summon. Our
Comforter and his associate comforters are summoned to our side when
things get difficult, and even before.
We are comforted by the very presence of God and His grace. The fact
that God corrects and pulls us out of our mistakes, demonstrates His
knowledge: that we will soon be perfect. We are also comforted by
those empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so, as was Paul, by Titus in
2 Corinthians 7. In community we find the presence and comfort of
God.
Christians are people that laugh and love deeply because they cry
deeply. Christian community is to be a place in which this is an
acceptable practice. So empty, will be our good moments on this
earth, if that is all we seek. In order to be a stern-faced Stoic,
one must obsess over the details of reality, to be a hedonist, one
must divorce them completely, the follower of Christ does neither.
There should be no need to fake emotions in the company of believers.
Questions:
- Do you see emotional authenticity among the community of believers?
- How can we be better brothers and sisters to those in a season of mourning?
- Have you experienced godly sorrow? How did God comfort you (through His presence or other believers)?
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