Momentum: Pursuing God’s Blessings Through The BeatitudesSample

Where Spiritual Mourning Will Lead You

"Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing..." 2 Corinthians 6:10

This is how the apostle Paul describes the true Christian. It’s fascinating that these two things go together.

Judas grieved over his betrayal of Jesus, but this was not spiritual mourning. How do we know? Because his mourning led to despair. Grief that leads to despair is always the work of Satan, not the Spirit.

Satan brings you to despair of self, but never to hope in Christ. The Holy Spirit brings you to despair of self and to hope in Christ. Hope is a signature mark of spiritual mourning. That’s how you tell the difference between the work of the devil and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

There are two sides to the coin of genuine Christian experience. The true Christian says, “Who is sufficient for these things” (2 Corinthians 2:16)? But his mourning is infused with hope, so he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say, “Our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

The true Christian says, “Wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24), but he does not end there. His mourning is infused with hope, so he says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (7:25).

The true Christian says, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15), but she does not end there. Her mourning is infused with hope, so she says with Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

True Christians mourn their sins. But they never end there. Our mourning is infused with hope, so we lay hold of the comfort that is found in Jesus Christ.

For further reading, see Romans 7:7-25