In my journey, there have been many things that have brought me joy. I have enjoyed being with family and friends. I have enjoyed getting to see a lot of sights around our beautiful country. I have even enjoyed getting to play golf in February while it is 70 degrees (we’re not in Kansas anymore Toto) Deep inside I know that there has to be more to life than just the simple little pleasures in life.
As we entered our journey from here to there, we learned last time that when we gain the kingdom of heaven we get the result of love. We are taking a journey in our lives from where we are now to the eternal destination we choose. We have a choice to spend eternity in Heaven or not. Check back to my previous post to find out the explanation of the journey we are all on. https://ethos4life.com/2019/02/06/from-here-to-there
Last time I said the result when we gain the kingdom of heaven is love. When you know your need for God + Follow = Kingdom of Heaven and the net result is love in our life.
Today we will take a look at how JOY comes into focus in our lives. Matthew records in his gospel chapter 5 this “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Why does Jesus tell us that we are blessed when we mourn? I don’t know about you but I don’t like to mourn. As a pastor, I have performed many funerals and I have been personally attached to many people that I have done services for. As I’m sure many of you know when someone you care about passes from this life to eternity, it hurts, it’s uncomfortable, it’s not something we really look forward to going through. So how can we reconcile what Jesus tells us in his message for us today? You are blessed when you morn. In my human knowledge, this does not make sense so there must be more. And there is, let’s take a look.
In Matthew 5:4 it says “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (emphisis added) Michael Wilkins writes “Those who are bankrupt are also those who mourn. The loss of anything that a person counts valuable will produce mourning, whether it’s one’s financial support, or loved ones, or status in society, or even one’s spiritual standing before God. The psalmist understands this latter kind of mourning, for he says, “Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed” (Ps. 119:136). Those who are self-satisfied are tempted to rejoice in themselves and their accomplishments, but those who have reached the bottom of the barrel, whether it is spiritual or emotional or financial, or those who see the bankruptcy of those around them, will mourn.”
Mourning will come in may different forms if you are honest with yourself. You will mourn about financial things only if you have something to tell you that you need to mourn it. You will need to understand what the standard is that you are using as a baseline of what working and what is not. This is according to the goals you have set based on reality. We can mourn for morality only if we have a baseline to associate with it. We can mourn our own and people’s veiw of God only if we have a baseline based on truth and a pure standard in which to mourn it.
When it comes to joy in the conversation of mourning. When we mourn for those things we see that are broken and/or missing according to God’s standards. Such as we mourn a broken society that has no consistent value for protecting human life whether of any age or not. We mourn a culture that is based on personal satisfaction above all else and anyone else. Jesus says that when we truly understand this need for God and the mourning it causes we will be comforted by God. That comfort will come in the fact that we have something to look forward to. The joy we can find will be associated with what we know will come to be. When we understand the reality of eternity in Heaven and true pure joy we will have then we can have joy now as well. In the book of James 1:2-4 NIV Paul says this “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
A blog is just to short a time to flush out all the details of mourning and joy but I want to leave you with this encouragement. If you will put your trust in Jesus and what he did for you. He came to this world to die for your sins and mine. He loves you so much that he wanted to take your penalty and put it on himself so you can live. When we catch a glimpse of this and truly understand it, we will have no other response than joy.
Understand what we mourn for + understand our need for God = we will be comforted and the proof will be a true joy no matter what we go through.
Blessings
Next Stop – Meekness and its associated Peace
ETHOS 4 LIFE 