Those that Mourn

Matthew 5:4 NIV “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Romans 2:23 simply states: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” That is an accurate picture of humanity.  There are many among the human crowd who would dispute this truth—they do not accept the idea of original sin and do not believe that they are fundamentally flawed.  (This is made very clear in the Humanist Manifesto)  According to humanist creed, mankind can and will evolve into a more perfected being—through human effort.  Sometimes I wish that this was true--that human kind would progress to the point where we could solve the problems of the world and tame our own wayward natures.  It is simply not going to happen.  We may be more sophisticated than ancient man and more technologically advanced, but our nature has not evolved.

In Orthodox Christianity, we believe that we need Jesus, living in us, in order to change.  That change begins with a heart that is “mourning” over its condition.  When we recognize our sin—are broken and repentant before God, the Bible tells us that He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.  Our source of comfort comes from the fact that God loves a broken and a contrite heart and embraces our sorrow with His love, restoration and forgiveness.

King David was a man in need of comforting.  He fell into sin.  He committed adultery and then to “cover” his sin he murdered the husband of woman he committed adultery with.  As hideous as his sin was—it’s not that surprising given the nature of man.  The good news is that when David was forced to “see” his sin, by the word of the prophet Nathan, his heart was filled with sorrow.  David poured out his heart before the Lord, confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness.  Although David suffered for the natural results of his sin, God restored David and ultimately called David, “A man after my own heart.”