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

Matthew 5:4

Most of human behavior revolves around this survival curse.  Yet most people want to escape from this reality.  This is the root of our cultures idolatry of fun. This survival curse must be covered, medicated and escaped from in our lives. In light of this the world says, “Be happy at all costs.” If alcohol makes you happy, then drink to your hearts content.  If illicit sex makes you happy, then you should not restrain yourself.  There is no need for restraint in anything that makes us happy, and rescues us from the rut of survival.  So popular culture says jump in with two feet, and if it be drugs…hanging out with friends…partying…medication…porn…another bad relationship…TV…entertainment…busyness…work…achieving, then so be it.  Whatever brings you delight is to be pursued.

This race to escape from our human dilemma is futile. We want a deep seated happiness that radiates from within, not a superficial bandaid that only distracts us from reality. Yet the only way to find this deep seated happiness is to stop and face the condition we are in. This is the call of repentance that we hear from John the Baptist and Jesus.  The call to face our sin.  The call to mourn our condition, and then turn from that condition. Humans instinctively run from mourning and repentance.  We know we are flawed.  The transformation from superficial happiness to a deep joy within must go through the door of mourning. We must stop and face who we really are.  Alcoholics Anonymous says it is the point when you realize you are an alcoholic. You are not just having fun…you’re a drunk.

True happiness comes when you face the truth, mourn the truth and deal with the truth.  Until you look in the mirror and face the pain, and mourn the truth you will never change.  Some need to look in the mirror and say,  “I am a bad parent.”  They need to mourn it, and then say, “I am not going to bounce from relationship to relationship any more trying to fill the void in my life.  I am going to focus on my kids.”  A person needs to go through that same process of facing all hindering behavior.  I have made bad decisions, but no more excuses.  Face who you are.  Do you need to say: I am a liar; I am a slave to the opinions of others.  The truth is the most painful thing you will ever face.  But the truth is the only thing that will set you free.  It is not until you realize that you are a bad parent or an average parent that you can become a great parent, and that brings great joy.  It is not until you own your hypocrisy that you can make adjustments, and that coherence of life and thought brings real joy.  It is not until you realize that you are not doing well at your job because you are lazy, that you can make a real change.  The truth hurts.  Feel the un-cushioned force of the truth.  Mourning is the key to change.

The call to mourn also beckons you to dig deeper than just your behavior. You also have to face the injustice inflicted upon you in the past.   Many times our actions are rooted in the pain of injustice.  There might be more to the problem of overeating. The problem could be that you are medicating the pain of rejection from a parent that walked out on you.  The reason you are looking at porn maybe because you are afraid of intimacy, because the last person you shared your heart with rejected you or used that information against you.  I am not saying that all bad behavior is rooted in a dysfunctional past, but the call to mourn says, “If it is, then you need to deal with it.”  If you want to be free then you have to face the fact that: my parents never loved me; the abuse is affecting my behavior; I was taken advantage of.  The list could go on and on.  Facing the past leads to freedom from the past.  So how does one cure the pain of injustice afflicted upon them?  You can’t fix the past, but you can stop running from it.  You can face it, then mourn it, and then healing comes.  The survival instinct says to run from the pain.  It says to run from the darkness of pain.  Yet Jesus calls for us to face it, to mourn it, and let the healing process take root.  To mourn your lose is the only way to find freedom from the past, and this leads to genuine happiness. Happy are those who mourn.

Mourning is the pathway that helps us to step into a larger world.  Mourning things outside of our control places us on a path to greater joy than we can ever imagine.  It is paradox again.  We force ourself in a direction that is counterintuitive.  There are all kinds of injustices that you can mourn: sex slavery; children with parents in prison; teen pregnancy; etc.

When you mourn issues larger than yourself, then the blessings that come into your life are manifold.  This mourning releases compassion.  This compassion stirs up love in our hearts.  This love and compassion connects us to God, motivates us to act positively.  God connection and positive action releases the anointing of God’s Spirit into our life.  This brings a supernatural dimension into our life.  We have a supernatural flow of energy, purpose and miracle working power. This provides a high to life that can only be understood when one has experienced the connection to a larger purpose.

When one takes this mourning to God through prayer this is what the Bible calls intercession.  The issue that one is mourning becomes catalytic in connecting to God.  This connection to God  awakens people to the life they were created for.

We were created to glorify God, know God, and relate with God. When we mourn larger injustices we step into a combination of joy, peace and purpose that brings an inward satisfaction that awakens us to why we were created.  The Bible calls this, “Joy unspeakable and full of glory.” This holds true until God brings us another cause to mourn.  Mourning starts the process that leads to love, compassion, connecting with God, and the anointing.  These make us happy. Thus, blessed are those who mourn!

 

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