Sundays with Kristi - Blessed: Mourning

How do you respond to death?

Today we’re going to build on our study of The Beatitudes by looking at mourning. Last week we looked at the Poor in Spirit. As we begin today looking at blessings in the midst of mourning, I also want to invite you to look back at the previous lessons found under the “Sunday” tab above.

Mourning
Matthew 5:4 – Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Mourning is an interesting word choice. Mourning refers to a very specific type of sadness. It’s the grief that follows a loss. Now the Jewish people in the audience would have had a very specific understanding of what it means to mourn. In fact, they have an entire ritual of mourning that is to be carefully followed upon the death of a loved one. You can read more about that entire process here but suffice it to say that Jews took mourning very seriously.

Jesus is specifically talking about blessing those people who are in mourning; those who have experienced a loss. What loss is he referring to? Remember back to last week where Jesus says He will bless the poor in spirit. How are we poor in spirit? We’re poor in spirit by sacrificing all that we have and all that we are and aspire to be. In essence, we die.

Paul puts this another way in Galatians 2:20. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God; who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

So, I died with Christ on the cross. My sins needed to be paid for and He paid for them. I sacrificed everything I am and am poor in spirit, receiving the blessing of the kingdom of heaven. When we have sacrificed ourselves and all that we are to God and become poor in spirit, God wants us to truly understand what we are doing. He understands the enormity of the sacrifice. He understands that we need to repent of that sin that we have just given up. He also knows that we can’t possibly live the life He desires for us on our own.

Comfort
Once we surrender everything to Him, what happens? According to Paul, Christ lives the life for us. From these words of Jesus, He comforts us that we don’t have to go this alone. We don’t have to struggle through it. He is there for us and He will walk through the difficulties for us on our behalf. We just have to allow ourselves and our desires to die, so that we can continue to live by faith with Jesus taking the lead because He loves us and gave Himself for us.

Think of these Beatitudes as steps in the process of becoming more Christ-like so that we may be blessed to the fullness of God’s desire for us.

Step one – become poor in spirit by giving up all that we are to God. He’ll bless us with the Kingdom of Heaven

Step two – recognize and mourn for the effect that our wrong doings have had since they caused Jesus to be put to death. He’ll bless us by comforting us and being there to walk us through the paths of life we could have never gone through on our own.

We’ll take a look at the next step in the journey next week as we look at meekness.

Father, I have sacrificed who I am and all that I was trying to do on my own. It’s all yours now. I see the high price that You paid to be able to accept that sacrifice from me. I will never forget what my wrong doings have cost. I pray You will comfort me and lead me from this point forward so that I am walking in the way you would have me to walk.

Kristi Burchfiel
Living in the World – Living out the Word
Check out my daily devotions either on my blog or on my Facebook page

Lonely Hearts ~ a sweet Christian Romance
The Price of Trust ~ Christian Romantic Suspense
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