Mourning The Right Things

So we’re thinking about our mindset, our attitudes, our way of looking at life and responding to it.  Yesterday Jesus challenged us to be poor in spirit.  Today our focus from Him is:

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

Mtthew 5:4

Whenever we become conscious of our failures and the harms we have caused others, whether that’s through an inventory of our character defects or just the to and fro of daily life, then a well of deep sorrow may overwhelm us. 

We are disappointed or angry with ourselves.  We wonder how we could have done what we did or let others down as we did.  What happened?    

The only question to ask ourselves that really matters in that moment is, “Am I saddened enough by the painful mess I am in to be willing to come before God and admit that I am powerlessness over my self-willed ways?”

This is the kind of mourning Jesus is talking about which will result in us being blessed and comforted.  Because, if we are truly sorrowful for our sin, God will forgive us and lead us forward to a new life with Him.

Your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 

2 Corinthians 7:9b-10

God intended us to feel sorrow about what’s gone wrong in our lives, but He wants us to use that sorrow as motivation to turn our hearts towards Him. Wrong is wrong.  Harm is harm.  We can’t escape the reality of the harm we have caused but we can offer it, together with ourselves and our future, to the God who created us and who will bring new life out of the ashes of our past.

Heavenly Father, we agree with You that it’s not enough to simply regret the past. Help us to enter into the Godly sorrow that the Bible speaks of, the kind that brings us to our knees in repentance before You. 

Help us today to own up to the ways we live a self-obsessed life with no consideration of the impact it had on others.  Help us to sorrow for our sin in such a way that we are filled with gratitude as we realize how much Jesus has done for is.    

Help us to not wallow in regret and shame but to allow our sorrow to move us closer to You and, with Your help, live a life of doing what is right and good.  Amen

Well, what freedom when we can admit that without God our lives are a wrecking ball of destruction but, when lived in God’s unfailing love, we can know joy and comfort and a real sense of living and sharing God’s goodness.  Let’s be those who mourn as Jesus teaches us.