blessed are those who mourn

I often hear preachers say, at the end of their sermon, if you repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved. While this is absolutely true, personally, the step of repenting of our sins should be one of that is much more detailed. We should lament over what we have done against God. In other words, we don’t recite a simple little prayer and state, I repent of my sins and then expect to be changed.

Because when you look at the Scriptures, when one repented of their sins there was lamentation over them. Meaning, there was grief there was sorrow over what they had done. It wasn’t a moment reciting a few words and expecting God to forgive us. NO! When the people from the Scriptures repented they had a very passionate cry to God over what they had done. It was sorrow cut straight from the heart and feeling guilt, regret and remorse over their sins and how they were lead astray.

Maybe this is why some Christians still struggle with sin. After all many preachers lead us to believe by reciting this generic prayer and lumping all our sins together, we’ll be forgiven of them and we’re no longer obligated to repent. Sure, we’ve all probably said a prayer but was it really heart felt? Did we “really” feel bad over our sins, cry and weep for a few moments, till the service ended and then went back to our normal day in life?

So this brings up many questions for me and leads me to believe that while this prayer maybe a first step, we shouldn’t stop repenting over our sins until we’re given a sign, a word by God or even a dream. And it also brings up the question, if one doesn’t display the same type of lamenting over their sin as in the Scriptures, have they truly been forgiven? Maybe God is calling His people to REPENT the same way they did in Biblical times. Which leads me to the Scripture;

Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s Grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], for they will be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted]. Matthew 5:4 AMP

As a Christian, if you’re still struggling with sin, maybe you need to humble yourself before God Almighty and start naming each of your sins before Him and display the same type of lamenting that the people of God did throughout the Scriptures.

May God’s Grace bless you daily,
bring you closer to the Lord Jesus Christ
and Sanctify you in God’s Truth!

Some of my favorite scriptures are the Beatitudes and one can gain an immense amount of insight just by studying these beautiful scriptures. If you notice, Jesus always started these scriptures with Blessed are. But, what exactly did Jesus mean by Blessed are?

In a Biblical context blessed refers to someone who is fortunate, happy or content. At this point you’re probably thinking, you’re telling me Jesus believes I should feel Fortunate or Happy that I’m grieving? Well, yes. Let me explain.

To really understand this scripture we must look at the very first one, blessed are the poor in spirit. In this scripture “poor in spirit” means a lack of arrogance, lack of pride, lack of confidence, because we’ve had a “true” encounter with Christ. We now see “ourselves” the way that “God sees us”. He has opened our eyes to the “truth” about ourselves, and, when we see the “truth” about ourselves it leads to mourning. The scripture reads;

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Matthew 5:4

It’s that “mourning” that brings us to a place where we “grieve” over our wrongdoings, we “grieve” over our failures, we “grieve” over our shortcomings, we “grieve” over our sin, we “grieve” over the condition of our world, and we “grieve” for those lost “to” the world. When we “grieve” our heart is convicted, it begins to soften and this leads us to praying to God, confessing our sins and repenting of them.