Blessed Are Those who Mourn | There is Hope Radio |

My co-host, whom I call Bobby the Seeker, and I discussed what it means to mourn and the blessing.

Matthew 5:3 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Matthew 5:3 The Message Paraphrase

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”

As we have said in past articles. the Beatitudes when read with the natural mind do not make sense. They seem contradictory. They do not seem inviting. Who wants to mourn and how in the world can that be a blessing. But when read with spiritual understanding they make total sense and are seen, and experienced, as amazing principles to live by.

To mourn can be applied in a variety of ways. Bobby and I in the podcast spoke about mourning over the sins in the world and the sins in our own life. Bobby gave examples of how we can look at the sins, evil in the world and get angry, frustrated, and make our life miserable. There certainly is no comfort in that. In contrast he spoke on if we mourn over what is taking place in our world and will pray we can find comfort placing these issues in the hand of God and find peace. I spoke on the concept of mourning over our own sin, experiencing conviction, confessing, repenting, and receiving the forgiveness of God.

There were two key Bible passage we took a look at:

1 John 1:8-10 NASB

⁸If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

This is powerful. If we confess our sin, mourn over our sin, repent of it, we are comforted by the forgiveness of God.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10

⁸For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— ⁹I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. ¹⁰For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

The goal of Apostle Paul was not to make the Corinthians sorrowful to punish them, or make them feel miserable, but to bring them to the place of repentance. The repentance that leads to salvation, to be set free, to be delivered. The sorrow, mourning, that ultimately leads to comfort, rejoicing.