Happy are the Sad

What? Is that an oxymoron statement or what? How can that be?

I'm afraid that you are going to have to take that complaint up with the Son of God, because He is the One who made it. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" Matthew 5:4.

The Greek word for mourn is pentheo. It is reserved for mourning for the dead, the most final of all causes for human grief. It is that passionate lament over the loss, the permanent loss of one deeply loved. It is the strongest word available for agony or torment.

And Jesus says, "Happy are those who are in agony." It could include at least two scenes:
• Mourning over personal loss of possessions or people
• Mourning over wrong in the world or one’s own sinfulness

Jesus knows all, which is considerably more than us. In the human we think that happy are those who laugh, or happy are those who have an easy life, or happy are those who whistle and smile a lot. Jesus' words do not move: "Blessed are those who mourn..." He is the King of this new kingdom we have been talking about, the "up-side down" kingdom.

We have been so ingrained with the world's system of thought that even as Christians, we squirm quite a bit under this new kingdom idea.

A little saying that came to mind as I have mulled this Beatitude over is:
"Celebrate sin now, mourn later;
Mourn now over sin, celebrate later!"

Are you in mourning over sin now? Are you uncomfortably aware of your besetting sin to the point that you do something about it?

Blog with me :-)

I always go back to what you [Noel] said about a testi-moan-y. I think a lot of Christians still look fondly at their sinful past. Why is that?

Once we repent, and start moving into a deeper relationship with Christ, how can we still look at our old sin as being pleasurable?

Satan and his demons are very crafty. I think we forget all of the hardship that is associated with the sin, and focus on the fun that was had while sinning.

Heb 11:25 -- He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

So sin is pleasurable for a season... and I think Satan reminds us of that pleasure, but not the bad things.

I think I got off on a little tangent there... but it just kept coming out. :-P