Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Steve Stewart's picture

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

I have been thinking about this second beatitude a lot over the past couple of months. It is about both identification and promise. Jesus, after all, mourned¬¬-––He mourned over Jerusalem that rejected Him; He sighed over the suffering of the deaf man; famously, He wept over the pain that Lazarus’ death caused his family and friends.

Significantly, Jesus promised that a time of comfort was coming. It seems to me that He was speaking both of the temporal and eternal. Paul declared that the Lord is “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Cor 1:3-4). The Psalms repeatedly assert that when we turn to the Lord in our troubles, He comforts and sustains us. But I believe there is a deeper promise in the second beatitude that points our hearts to an ultimate resolution, an eternal solace, contentment and satisfaction.

I need this beatitude because, increasingly, I am aware that, at a deep and quiet level, I am mourning. 

At the core of this mourning is the reality that as a follower of Christ and His Kingdom, I am now an alien and stranger in this world. In the famous “faith chapter”, the writer to the Hebrews said that the Old Testament heroes realized this and lived accordingly (Heb 11:13). Repeatedly, Peter addressed the church as “strangers in the world”, even reminding them to embrace this (1 Pe 1:17; 2:11). If we are going to truly follow Jesus’ steps as His disciples, then alienation will mark our lives. The great 19th C preacher, Charles Spurgeon, wrote: “How settled soever their condition be, yet this is the temper of the saints upon earth––to count themselves but strangers.” 

Increasingly, I am mourning over the essential brokenness of the world. We are confronted with this daily as the news carries a seemingly endless succession of terrorist attacks, battles and wars breaking out in various parts of the world. I am deeply saddened by the anger, and the inevitable suffering among the innocent that it leads to. No wonder William Wordsworth penned, “The world is too much with us.”

I mourn over the blindness on both sides of conflict, over the myth that if we apply enough force, righteousness will win out. This denies the unwavering evidence of millennia that violence is never redemptive. Never, no matter what the cause. 

I mourn over a Christianity wrapped in self-justifying patriotism, instead of living as the counter-cultural salt and light that Jesus told us to embrace. After all, his command to love our enemies was as challenging to the oppressed and tyrannized people of first century Palestine as it is for us today.

Again and again, the New Testament writers remind us to lift up our eyes, to remember both our identity and our destiny. Our lives “receive their definition and direction from the future, not from the present, from God, not from the world.” No wonder we mourn.

So where is the promised comfort? It is in knowing where we are going. Like Abraham, we live here to be a blessing and a light; and like him, we keep our eyes on the prize, ”looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10).

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

Add new comment

Comments

Anonymous's picture

Dear Pastor Friend,
Greetings to you in the name of Jesus,
we have read your wonderful ministries words. We are praying for you and your family and your Ministry. We would like to become a partnership with you and with your Ministry. In the month of September 1st to 8th 2015. We are planning to arrange the Pastors conference and outreach Revival meetings so by this time you are welcoming you and your family to preach and teach the God message in the midst of the Indian people and pastors.
Please come to India to teach and preach midst of us. This is what God is going to plan with you and with your beloved family please pray for these Meetings. I and my mother and the Pastors fellowship would like to invite you as one of main speaker of any one of the above meetings. We would like to you hear your sound full message in India. May the grace of the lord Jesus be with you and your beloved children and your church people and my love to all of you in Christ Jesus! We will be pleased to hear from you soon, Jesus love.
Pastor sivakumar.MY EMAIL ID JOHNMOSES191@GMAIL.COM
Christ holy prayer house ministries.
Please visit ourwebsite: http://johnmoses191.wix.com/chphm
INDIA

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Results

Results 351 - 360 of 487

Pages

Healthier Today than Yesterday - Book Cover

Healthier Today Than Yesterday eBook

Mark and Patti Virkler | 103 Pages

I am healthier at age 60 than I was at age 40! That excites me. I want to share with you what I have learned in the last 18 years since I wrote the book Go Natural. I researched and wrote that first book on health when I was 40 years old because my body was beginning to break down. The truths I learned then improved my health and many others have written to tell me that it improved the quality of their health, as well.

Price: $9.95

Hearing God Through Biblical Meditation ebook

Unlocking fresh revelation daily - by Mark and Patti Virkler | 179 Pages

For many years I studied the Bible incorrectly, and it produced death rather than life. Even though I had a knowledge of the Scriptures, I did not personally experience the life and the realities they revealed. The Bible calls this the ministry of death, rather than the ministry of righteousness (2 Cor. 3:6–9). Upon coming out of Bible college, I found myself just like the apostle Paul, attacking those who disagreed with my theology. 

Price: $15.95

Hearing God's Voice for Healing e-book

Mark and Patti Virkler | 281 Pages | Retail: $23.99

Explore the many methods Jesus used to heal. Recognize the significance of the fact that more than half the time, the word used for these healings was the Greek word for "therapeutic," which means "cure". Become aware of 28 therapeutic cures which are either mentioned in the Bible or, if not specifically mentioned, are compatible with biblical principles.

Price: $19.95

How Could I Have Been So Wrong? eBook

Mark Virkler | 80 Pages

This book is my story of how my cardiac event was resolved by combining the best in medical care, Christian spirituality, and nutrition. 

I was NOT supposed to have a cardiac event. I ate a healthy diet, exercised several times a week, consumed lots of great nutrition and sought to live destressed by abiding in Christ. This story contains the lessons I learned in the months of healing after having emergency surgery which involved five heart bypasses.

Price: $14.95

How Do You Know? eBook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 180 Pages

How do you know? What is the process you use to discover truth? I did not ask that question during the first 25 years of my life. I used various methods for discovering truth such as: if my parents said so, then it was so. If my teacher said it was so, then it was so. If my pastor said it was so, then it was so. If my theology said it was so, then it was so.

Price: $17.95
How to Build a Winning Team eBook

How to Build a Winning Team eBook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 105 Pages

Can I succeed like others have? What do I need to do? How do I go about it? What if I don't have the gifts necessary to do something great?  The wonderful truth revealed in Scripture is that God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats, especially when they say, "Yes, Lord" to the destiny He has prepared for them!

Price: $12.95

How to Deal Effectively with Your Sexuality eBook

by Six Contributing Authors | 80 Pages

Question: How do I handle my sexuality? It is such an intense, persistent and driving force. I battle with pornography. How do I tame this monster within me? I see so many people and even Christian leaders fall, and I don't want to fall. I want this to work! I feel trapped and no-one is preaching a sermon on how to handle this. So I grit my teeth, try my hardest, and fail over and over again, and then get consumed with shame. Can you help me? Have you found any answers that work?

Price: $9.95
How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit eBook

How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit eBook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 44 Pages | Published 2002

This brief booklet walks a person through the main obstacles to speaking in tongues, and shows how each one can be successfully overcome. It is down-to-earth, practical and biblical, and in it Mark Virkler shares the struggles he went through before he was able to speak in tongues. Some were theological issues and some simply practical issues, like the fact that if I am going to speak in tongues, I will need to speak. Otherwise, nothing happens.

Price: $2.66
How to Walk by the Spirit eBook

How to Walk by the Spirit eBook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 136 Pages

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Price: $13.95
Imagine That eBook

Imagine That eBook

by Rev. Jimmy D. Smith | 85 Pages

Beginning sometime around my 72nd year, my imagination really started to wake up again.  I was reading Dialogue with God, by Mark and Patti Virkler, when wheels began to turn.  In the weeks that followed I decided that this was a “do” book, not just a “read to learn” book. I began to do what the book suggested. Somewhere along the line I felt that the Lord gave me permission to experience the freedom of using my imagination to worship Him, to talk to Him, and more importantly to hear from Him.

Price: $7.95

Pages