Wednesday 6th May

Matthew 5 vs 4
“Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”

Familiar words but usually because they are taken and used out of context at funerals and yes I am guilty too. It’s not that God does not comfort those who mourn the loss of a loved one. The fact that he does is wonderfully true, it’s just that Jesus is not talking about that kind of mourning. The Beatitudes set out the upside down values of the Kingdom of God and just as those who recognise their spiritual poverty are those most likely to seek peace in Christ, so those who mourn their sinful ways are most likely to know the comfort of forgiveness.

Aside from the fact that some people think sin is a word that should be removed from the English language in the 21st century, that we should by now have outgrown such repressive terms, we need to understand what it means. Sin is at heart a rejection of God, a rebellion against him which is expressed in many ways and it is still common to human kind. Jesus was the only one without sin and sometimes yes Christians need to remember that and that it is appropriate to mourn over our sin not in some self indulgent, exhibitionist way which reveals a false godliness, but privately on our knees before God who sees through all the fronts we put up. When we come to the place where we don’t even like ourselves we find there One who loves us beyond measure. From him we learn the worth of a soul and he turns our mourning into joy.

PRAYER
Lord I thank you that I am loved with everlasting love. To you I confess my sin confident not in my goodness but in Jesus alone. AMEN  
                                                                                          
Listen