Daily Devotion

January 2, 2013

This Year, Live by the Beatitudes (2)


“Blessed are those who mourn.” Mt 5:4 NKJV

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Grief is the price we pay for love. One author writes: “We wonder when grief hits hard, ‘Why did this happen? Was it to remind us of the brevity of life? Was it to deepen the faith of those who carry on?’ It’s hard to answer ‘yes’ when everything seems dark. The most important thing to us at that moment is to be relieved of the pain. But when we move through adversity rather than avoid it, we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. Like Joseph, we see how God can use it for some larger end. Ultimately, mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of the only One who can heal us.” The Bible says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps 30:5). Morning will come; God has promised it! Your grief will ease with time. The fact that you’re willing to embrace the pain rather than try to escape it, guarantees that. It’s not that you’ll forget; it’s that you’ll remember differently—with more gratitude and less grief. This beatitude answers two questions: (1) What happens to those who die in the Lord? “Let not your heart be troubled…In my Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn 14:1-3). (2) What about those of us who must go on living? “The…God of all comfort…comforts us…that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble” (2Co 1:3-4 NKJV).

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