SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/10/2020
10:50 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Godly Mourning”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:4
Message of the verse: “4 “How happy are
those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort!”
(Philips).
We
want to continue with some more things that Paul wrote as we looked at Romans
chapter seven in our last SD to show us that we will continue to have battles
as long as we are in this earthly body, and so Paul goes on to talk about the
creation anxiously longing for restoration, but of his own longing for complete
restoration. “19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of
the sons of God.” “23 And not only this,
but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is
seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?” (Rom. 8:19, 23-24).
I
can understand that Paul was tired of sin, tired of fighting it in himself, as
well as in the church and in the world.
Paul longed for relief. “2 For
indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling
from heaven, 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent
from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:2, 8). It seems that the closer we get to the Lord
the more we see sin in our lives, as well as in the church, and in the world
and so we get frustrated and at times just have trouble handling it, but the
truth is that we are in need of the Holy Spirit’s help in handling it. Like Paul we mourn over sin just as Jesus is
speaking of in our verses today.
John
MacArthur writes “The mark of the mature life is not sinlessness, which is
reserved for heaven, but growing awareness of sinfulness. ‘If we say that we have no sin,’ John warns, ‘we
are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1
John 4:8-9). The subjects of God’s
kingdom—the forgiven ones, the children of God and joint heirs with the Son—are
characterized by continual confession of sin.”
Let
us now look at the Greek word translated “mourn” which is Penthountes and this word is in the present participle, which
indicates continuous action. We could
say those who are continually mourning are those who will be continually
confronted. Martin Luther in his 95
theses said that the Christian’s entire life is a continuous act of repentance
and contrition. David cries out in his
psalms, first in 38:4 “For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy
burden they weigh too much for me” and then in 51:3 he writes “I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.”
I
have mentioned in an earlier SD that we don’t see anything in the gospels where
Jesus ever laughed. John MacArthur
writes in conclusion to this rather long section “We are told of His weeping,
His anger, His hunger and thirst, and many other human emotions and
characteristics. But if He laughed, we
do not know of it. We do know that, as
Isaiah predicted, He was ‘a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief’ (Isa.
53:3). Yet today we often hear of
another Jesus, who laughs and cajoles and draws people into the kingdom by
nonjudgmental spirit and His winsome way.
The fun-loving, escapist would of comedians is found plying its trade
even in the church—and finding ready acceptance.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for a better understanding
about mourning, godly mourning, even though it took five days to better
understand it, but we are still not done with this chapter on mourning as we
have to look at “The result of Mourning,” and a few more things about mourning
before we finish looking at Matthew 5:4.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
better understand mourning, contentment, humility, and to have more joy as I
study the Word, even though I am convicted at times after reading and studying
it.
4/10/2020 11:26 AM
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