MOURNING COMFORT

Matthew 5:4 (ESV) says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Comfort is largely enabled by hope.  In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says, “Hope…means…a continual looking forward to the eternal world…It does not mean we are to leave the present world as it is.  If you read history you will find that Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next…It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.  Aim at heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”; aim at earth and you will get neither.”  Hope is the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.  With God, there is always hope.  Without God, there is no hope. You have likely noticed the ones who suffer the most during sadness.  It’s those that don’t have the Lord.  Funerals are a case in point.  Unbelievers typically are the saddest because to them, this is all there is.  Christ-followers mourn and aren’t immune to knowing sadness, to sensing weariness, to admitting loneliness but know we are free to be honest with ourselves and others about our being down because we know that there is life everlasting coming where mourning doesn’t exist. 

Revelation 21:4 tells us He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.  Even with this promise, we are all subject to being sad.  I doubt there is a reader of this missive who hasn’t been sad and if there is, that person will experience it, maybe even deeply so.  It’s unavoidable in this temporary life within these jars of clay in which we live today.  But have the wisdom to listen to that sadness, accept it for what it says and follow it to the One who can explain it, heal it and redeem it.  Psalm 30:5 (ESV) says, Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes with the morning.