"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4 Scriptures: Matthew 5:4, 2 Corinthians 1:2-4
We have all experienced pain, be it minor or intense pain. Pain is something we would all like to postpone, because pain is never convenient. In Matthew 5:4 we find a statement that is hard to understand: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." It seems like an oxymoron: happy mourners. But the truth is the pleasure and pain are closely connected. We usually think of pleasure and pain as being opposites. There is a disease called: Hansen's disease, which is basically leprosy. Victim's of Hansen's disease never feel a thing: as their disease progresses they don't even feel as their body breaks down. This is similar to how many people try to live their life: they try to live without feeliing any emotional pain. We try to block the pleasure and the fulfillment of relationships, by avoiding them all together. Being fully alive brings risk. Being able to feel the warmth of the sun brings the risk of feeling the pain of a sunburn. Making a friend includes the risk that the friendship may end; loving someone brings the risk that you may be separated from the one you love. Happy are they who mourn, but it is a blessing to grieve. If you have something to grieve over it means you have had something to love first. Jesus tells us that those who mourn will be comforted. To mourn is to share our pain with caring people: God gave us the church to develop relationships with others who believe in Jesus Christ and have experienced for themselves God's comfort. Ask yourself the question: how will God use your suffering to help someone else? 2 Corinthians 1:3 says: "Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." Compassion and comfort begin with God: God does not want that compassion to stop. He wants us to recycle compassion! If we have experienced pain God intends for us to be to a conduit of comfort. Life is full of riddles: it can be hard to understand how that pain and pleasure have a close relationship, but you can experience it! Comments are closed.
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