Wednesday, April 03, 2013

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN

Really?

Those who mourn are in a blessed state?

Wouldn't it be like God to make such a counter-to-human-thinking comment?

John Eldredge speaks with a powerful voice when he wrote that comfort for those who mourn and healing for the brokenhearted are at the very core of Jesus' mission.

Solomon said that it is better to go to a house of mourning than it is to a house of feasting.  I never understood this; (says Eldredge) I wrote it off as the pessimism of a depressed man.  Now I think I know what he meant.  Grief is good.  It is cleansing.  It undoes my world---and that is he best part of it. 

I need to be undone; simply undone.  No regrouping.  We need to mourn; it is the only way our hearts can remain both free and alive in this world.  Why?  Because it, like nothing else, puts a stop to the constant striving.  Grief is the antidote to the incessant possessive demand within.

Eldredge goes on to guide us to two necessary spiritual disciplines for every day; worship and grief.

Isn't that an odd combination?

Yet look around.  The ones who praise God and possess broken hearts for the downtrodden are the most effective among us. 

Hmmm.....do the commands to love God and love others ring a bell here?

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