Walking with Jesus: When We Stop Mourning Over Sin

Walking with Jesus: When We Stop Mourning Over Sin

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

In the days and weeks ahead, I have several funerals on my calendar. Somewhere along the way, someone will offer words of comfort, share a Scripture, or hand a grieving family a card reminding them that God comforts those who mourn.

And He certainly does.

But we need to be careful about something. We can take a little bit of biblical truth, remove it from its context, and unintentionally miss a much deeper truth that God wants us to understand.

When Jesus spoke those words in the Sermon on the Mount, He meant something deeper than the sorrow we feel when we lose someone we love.

In the context of the Beatitudes, Jesus is describing the spiritual condition of those who recognize their need for God. The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

This mourning comes when we recognize sin in our lives, when we see ourselves as we truly are before a holy God.

And Jesus promises comfort to those who come to Him with broken and repentant hearts.

I wonder sometimes if we have become so comfortable with God's grace that we have forgotten how to mourn over our sin.

I spoke about this Sunday, and I can tell you from personal experience that I haven't reached the point in my Christian walk where sin is no longer a struggle.

Just this past week, in a moment of weakness, I lost my temper and said something I should never have said.

The words were out before I could take them back.

Almost immediately, the Holy Spirit convicted me. I knew I had sinned. I knew I had displeased the Lord, and the weight of that conviction troubled me so deeply that I became physically sick for several hours.

It wasn't until I took that sin before the Lord, confessed it, and sought His forgiveness that I began to experience His peace again.

I have been walking with Jesus for many years now. I suppose somewhere along the way I thought I would be a whole lot closer to perfection than I am today.

But I was wrong.

I still struggle with this old sinful nature. I still say things I shouldn't say. I still find myself falling short of the man God has called me to be.

The devil occasionally tries to drag the sins of my past back into my thoughts, but he seldom finds much success there. Those sins have already been taken to the Cross.

My greater concern is not so much the man I used to be as the man I am today, and whether my life reflects the Christ I claim to follow.

And when I fall short, I don't want to become comfortable with it.

I want my heart to remain tender enough toward God that sin still troubles me.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that godly sorrow produces repentance.

There is an important difference between conviction and condemnation. The enemy would like to use our failures to drive us away from God. The Holy Spirit convicts us to bring us back into fellowship with Him.

Conviction is not evidence that God has abandoned us. It is often evidence that He is still working in us.

And that brings me to something that has troubled me about what is often called the hyper-grace movement in today's Church.

We hear people celebrating their freedom in Christ, and rightly so. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. Salvation is a gift of grace, not something we could ever earn.

But somewhere along the way, some have taken that glorious truth and turned it into something Scripture never intended.

The idea that because Jesus paid for our sins, we are somehow free to live however we please.

Paul confronted that very thinking in Romans 6:1-2 when he asked whether we should continue in sin so that grace might increase.
His answer was unmistakable.

“By no means!”

Grace is not permission to continue living in sin. Grace is God's provision for rescuing us from its penalty and breaking its power over our lives.

Titus 2:11-12 reminds us that the same grace that brings salvation also teaches us to reject ungodliness and live righteous, godly lives.

If our understanding of grace makes us less concerned about sin, rather than more committed to following Christ, we misunderstand grace.

Because sin was never free.

Sin cost Jesus His life.
Sometimes I think about those two simple words in John 11:35: “Jesus wept.”

We often hear those words used at funerals as a reminder that Jesus understands our grief. And that is certainly true.

But I wonder how often we consider the greater picture.

Jesus was standing near the tomb of Lazarus. He knew He was about to raise His friend from the dead. Yet He was deeply troubled, and He wept.

Scripture does not tell us every thought that passed through our Lord's mind in that moment. But standing there at the tomb, we are confronted with the terrible reality of death, the sorrow it brings, and the fallen condition of a world under sin.

And I cannot read that passage without thinking about the Cross that lay ahead of Him.

Jesus came to defeat sin and death. Raising Lazarus demonstrated His power over the grave, but His ultimate victory would come through His death and resurrection.

The grace we celebrate today was purchased at an unimaginable price.

And those who first carried the Gospel into the world understood that following Jesus was no casual commitment. Many suffered persecution, imprisonment, and hardship. Some gave their lives for the faith they proclaimed.

They understood that grace was never an excuse to live for themselves.

It was a reason to live for Christ.

Perhaps that is what troubles me most about some of what I see in the Church today.

We want the comfort of forgiveness without the discomfort of conviction.

We want the blessings of salvation without the daily surrender of our lives.

We want to celebrate grace while avoiding any serious conversation about the sin that made grace necessary.

But Jesus did not go to the Cross merely to make us feel better about ourselves.

He went to the Cross to save us from our sins.

And the closer we walk with Him, the more we ought to recognize those things in our lives that do not please Him.

Not because we are living in fear of losing His love, but because we love Him and do not want to grieve the One who gave everything for us.

This morning, I am thankful for grace.

I am thankful that when I fail, I can confess my sins and trust the promise of 1 John 1:9, that God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us.

I am thankful that yesterday's failures do not have to determine today's walk with Jesus.

And I am thankful that the Holy Spirit has not stopped working on this old man.

I still have a long way to go.

But I have come to understand something about walking with Jesus.

The closer I draw to Him, the less comfortable I should become with the sin in my life, and the more grateful I become for the grace that forgives it.

Some days I will stumble. Some days I will say or do something I regret.

And there will be times when I find myself mourning over the sinful nature that still fights against the Spirit within me.

But I know where to take that sorrow.

I take it to the Cross.

There I find forgiveness, mercy, and the peace that passes all understanding.

And by His grace, I can get up this morning, begin another day, and continue walking with and serving Jesus.

Not because I have become perfect.

But because I belong to the One who is.