# 34 2016 Dev. Mt. 5:4. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Mt. 5:4 is in the first conversation of Jesus in Mt. and is part of Jesus’ introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is about our attitudes, our actions and our ethics as people belonging to the “Kingdom of Heaven”. This verse is part of what is called “The Beatitudes”. The meaning of this word is: “A state of absolute bliss” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). On this earth that state is the result of human kindness. Therefore, Jesus starts out with the attitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven. Humans were created with the ability to practice all of the nine attitudes that Jesus lays out but now we are fallen people (Ge. 3 pay attention to v.15). Therefore, it is difficult if not impossable to act on what Jesus is telling us because we are not only unwilling but unable to practice these attitudes.
Thanks be to God, followers of Jesus are recreated in Him, our willingness and spiritual ability is restored by faith in Christ. Vs. 4, what does it mean to mourn? To mourn is a natural reaction when there is loss of a loved one or loss of what a person loves, it is a reaction that all people have. But what is meant here is a deeper action as followers of Jesus, we share in people’s grief, even people we do not know. We also grieve over the brokenness of the world, over the decadence of the world and we grieve over our own sins and the sins of other people.
This attitude also has a two-fold benefit. We are blessed in all that we do and we are comforted when we grieve. Tonight we visited with a friend, his brother died at age 50 after a long struggle with illness and now Scott is rejoicing because his brother belongs to Jesus. Truly he is comforted, praise be to God!
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