Blessed Are Those Who Know Sin is Serious

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

Perhaps in the same breath that he spoke the words about knowing you are needy, Jesus speaks of mourning over your personal condition. This isn’t sorrow over getting caught, or fear of being found out. What does God not already know? (Perhaps we fear earthly repercussions more than heavenly ones.) It is sorrow over sin—sorrow that leads to repentance. Paul amplified it this way in 2 Corinthians 7:10:

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 

It is sorrow that brings about change.

The comfort he speaks of is comfort of forgiveness. If you repent—turn away from your sin and turn toward God—then you will be comforted. 1 John 1:9 reminds us “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Confess means “to say the same” and in this context means to say the same thing about a thought or action that God says about it. If He says it is sin, then call it sin. Do you ever have trouble calling something you know is wrong “sin”? I do. Seems I can call it a flaw, shortcoming, something stupid, or whatever, much easier than agreeing with God that it is “sin.” But that is the starting point to forgiveness. Confession is acknowledging what God has already said about something. It is letting myself know that I agree with God about it.

Speaking of the day when Jesus would come and make this forgiveness possible, Isaiah 40:1-2 says,

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins. (NIV)

Those were words to the entire Jewish nation of the coming Messiah. He would pay for their sins, once for all. That payment is now effective for every Christ follower.  

1 Peter 3:18 says it this way, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (NASB) Notice that first phrase. Christ died once for all sins. He didn’t deserve it, we did. He was completely innocent. We are completely guilty. He died in order that we might be brought to God. That is comforting. 

An Update
I continue to feel well. People even tell me that I look good. (Yes, that rarely happened before I was sick.) Anyway, in spite of my "good" looks and feelings, I still desperately need your prayers. Unless it has been removed by the Father and we have not yet discovered that, the cancer still lurks in my bone marrow, awaiting an opportunity to rear its ugly head. More than the meds, your prayers keep it at bay. Please don't let up. Those prayers mean more than you know.

Oh, here's a view from a home I recently visited with friends up in the NC mountains. Soooo Nice!

The front porches of the house were right on this stream.