From Mourning to Comfort
How difficult is it for you to be vulnerable with your emotions?
If you’re anything like me its not something that comes naturally. So many of us keep our true emotions to ourselves either to keep control of how others view us or simply to fit into cultural stereotypes about what level of emotion is acceptable in order to be seen as a “normal” person.
We should know, though, that people who bottle their emotions generally do so out of fear. We are actually afraid of what may happen if we come face to face with our grieving or mourning. Afraid to show weakness, afraid to experience the emptiness of rejection that may come from this vulnerability, afraid to reveal something truthful when everything we put in front of others is a lie.
Someone who never mourns has placed a wall between the reality of what they need to grieve and the response we allow the people around us to see. This can happen for a myriad of reasons including past trauma, current environment, internal fears, etc. but the point is that mourning is a necessary action in order to move into true comfort or rest.
The same is true in our spiritual lives. We tend to hide from our sins against others by issuing apologies while harboring resentment deep inside. This can reveal itself through passive aggressive behavior, gossip, or just plain apathy. In the same way, we often hide from our sins against God by offering up a heartfelt confession, thinking that the regret and shame of what we’ve done combine with that confession to usher in grace and forgiveness from the Father.
What Jesus is showing us in our passage this week (Matthew 5:4) is different than that. Christ paints the Portrait of someone who finds comfort through mourning - not confession. True, the confession is vital, but mourning is necessary if you and I want to discover the lasting comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Take a moment today and ask yourself these questions:
What have I done today that doesn’t honor God/others?
What have I said?
What have I thought?
How have I lacked in respecting others?
Take time to confess these and let your heart mourn. Sin is death and when we experience this death mourning is necessary to bring us into new life in Jesus.
See you Sunday when we will look deeper into the rest and comfort God gives to those who mourn.
“All sorts of comforts are stored up in God. No matter what you may require to bear you up under your affliction, God has just the kind of comfort which you need—and He is ready to bestow it upon you! Rest assured of that and also believe that He will bestow it upon you if you ask it at His hands. Oh, I think this is a name full of good cheer to everyone who has grown weary because of the trials of the way through this great and terrible wilderness! God is the God of all comfort—not merely of some comfort, but of all comfort. If you need every kind of comfort that was ever given to men, God has it in reserve and He will give it to you! If there are any comforts to be found by God’s people in sickness, in prison, in need, in depression—the God of all comfort will deal them out to you according as you have need of them!”