By Allen White
Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4
This
verse is nearly an oxymoron. “Happy are those who mourn.” If they were happy,
they wouldn’t be mourning. If they are mourning, then they are not happy. But,
again, the happiness, the deeper inner joy, and the comfort are not in the
present situation.
The
rabbis referred to the Messiah as the “Comforter.” Jesus calls the Holy Spirit
the “Comforter” as well (John 14:16-17). But, we have some misunderstandings
about comfort.
If
you are comfortable, you don’t need a comforter. Jesus didn’t come to comfort
the comfortable, and thus make us more comfortable (sorry Trinity Broadcasting
Network). The end goal of our relationship with Christ isn’t comfort. It’s
salvation.
I
would go so far as to say that our comfort gets in the way of our relationship
with God at times. We have to be “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) to inherit the
Kingdom of Heaven. For some of us, our comfort should cause us to mourn because
it’s keeping us from God’s blessings in our lives. It’s distracting us from
Kingdom work.
But,
there are those who mourn. Why? They mourn because the world, by and large, is
a terrible place. Who would have imagined that in the 21st century
the world would still be plagued with war, human trafficking, hunger, piracy on
the high seas, injustice, slavery, extreme poverty, racism and so many other
things? The condition of our world and our culture should cause us to mourn.
Most
people have suffered considerable losses in their lives. They’ve lost their
hopes and dreams. They’ve lost their retirement or their livelihood. They’ve
lost family and close friends. Our losses cause us to grieve and mourn. We
can’t sweep them under the rug, but sometimes we can’t face them either. What
do we do?
We
turn to our Comforter. Ultimately, He will right ever wrong and put things in
order. The world will be transformed. Just not right now. We believe that God
is a just God (Isaiah 30:18). It’s one of His divine attributes. We mourn the
slowless of God’s justice.
One
day Jesus “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away"
(Revelation 21:4). But, what about today?
From Celebrate Recovery, we learn to “Earnestly believe that God
exists, that I matter to him, and
that he has the power to help me recover.” You might be thinking “Recovery? I don’t need recovery.” If you are mourning something today, if your life is overcome by deep sadness, then you need recovery. You need to know that you matter to God. You need to know that He has the power, on His terms, to help you through your current circumstance and every circumstance after that.
that he has the power to help me recover.” You might be thinking “Recovery? I don’t need recovery.” If you are mourning something today, if your life is overcome by deep sadness, then you need recovery. You need to know that you matter to God. You need to know that He has the power, on His terms, to help you through your current circumstance and every circumstance after that.
What
are you mourning today? What injustice or unfairness enrages you? As we trust
in Jesus, He will bring comfort.
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