Many funeral homes use Matthew 5:4 on their printed programs. While God can be a blessing to people in their mourning, he does not bless people because they are mourning the loss of a loved one. God will always have compassion for the hurting, but not everyone will seek God’s comfort in times of grief. 

Jesus was teaching a much different lesson in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was speaking about the way Christians should feel about our sins, those things that separate us from a right relationship with God.

We usually associate grief with the loss of someone we love, so over the years we have come to hear this beatitude of Christ in a wrong way. When Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn,” he was teaching us how to repent. Those words meant, “Blessed are those who mourn every choice that separates them from a right relationship with God.”

Grieving our sins will lead to blessing. Jesus taught that when we mourn our separation from God, he will comfort us. We are blessed with the promise of his forgiveness and love. 

Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets warned God’s people that their sacrifices at the altar meant nothing to God without a true heart of repentance. God wanted those sacrifices to help people understand that the cost of sin is separation from his favor, and, therefore, they should mourn the consequence of their choices.

Eventually, many of his people began to place the required sacrifice on the altar like we pay for a speeding ticket. We feel worse about the money we owe rather than feeling bad about the fact we could have hurt someone by driving too fast.

Living with wisdom is a path to God’s blessings. Considering our sins as Jesus taught us is wise. We should be careful to mourn every sinful choice that separates us from God. God grieves our sinful choices because they hinder his blessings in our lives. Living with wisdom is living with wise choices. Grieving those things which take us from God’s path of blessing is the wise choice that leads to the blessing of his comfort and his forgiveness. What choice should you mourn so that God can bless you today?