How God Can Help Us Overcome Guilt and Grief

The Beatitudes, presented by Jesus Christ during the Sermon on the Mount, are not mere platitudes; they are attitudes that ought to be. They run contrary to worldly wisdom. While the world emphasizes external conditions, possessions, popularity, or power, Jesus focuses on character—on what you are, rather than what you have.

The second Beatitude, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” is perhaps one of the strangest sentences in the Bible. The world suggests that those who never have to cry or mourn are blessed. However, Jesus teaches that true blessedness is found through sorrow.

Defining True Mourning

It is essential to understand what Jesus means by mourning. He is not talking about mere moaners—those who drink constantly from the cup of self-pity or the miserable, melancholy sad sacks of the world. Jesus is talking about a profound grief.

The Greek word for “mourn” is the deepest word for sorrow used in the Bible, signifying the type of grief felt at the graveside of a loved one, a strong word for lament. This deep, poignant sorrow is described in Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart… and He saves such that be of a contrite spirit”.

The key question posed by this Beatitude is: Do the things that break the heart of Jesus, break yours?.

The Sequence of Spiritual Discovery

Mourning, in this context, is understood primarily as mourning over sin—one’s own sin and the sin of humanity. This is the natural consequence of the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”.

1. Poor in Spirit: This means seeing oneself as morally and spiritually bankrupt in the sight of a righteous and holy God.
2. Mourn: When a person realizes this bankruptcy, it brings brokenness and mourning.

The Three Powers of Sin

For mourning to occur, one must genuinely see the deceptive, defiling, and destructive nature of sin.

1. The Deceiving Power of Sin

Many people live by a small list of external “do’s and don’ts,” which can lead to abominable pride. Jesus, however, rips the veneer off this outward compliance and addresses the heart.

• Anger is Murder: Jesus teaches that anger without a cause puts one in danger of judgment, equating internal rage with murder in God’s ledger.
• Lust is Adultery: Jesus stated that whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart. God looks on the heart, not just the outward appearance.
• Coveting is Lust: The Apostle Paul, a proud Pharisee who kept the commandments outwardly, was wiped out by the command, “Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). Paul realized that while he may not have stolen or committed adultery, he could not say he never wanted to.

2. The Defiling Power of Sin

Sin takes the good, beautiful, pleasurable (like beholding beauty with the eye) and profitable (like grasping things with the hand) things of life and perverts them. The Devil does not have raw materials; he takes the good things of God and perverts them.

3. The Destroying Power of Sin

Jesus uses stark language to illustrate sin’s destructive consequence: Hell. He advises that if the eye or hand causes sin, it is better to pluck it out or cut it off. Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation; rather, He is teaching that it is better to be a maimed saint on the way to Heaven than to be a healthy sinner on the way to Hell.

It was Jesus Christ, infinite love and compassion, who taught more about Hell than any other person in the Bible. When we realize that sin deceives, defiles, and destroys, and that our sin was the nails that held Jesus to the cross, then we understand why we must mourn.

Godly Sorrow vs. Worldly Sorrow

The grief that consumes us must be Godly Sorrow, which is the missing note in the modern church.

There are two types of sorrow:

1. Godly Sorrow: This works repentance to salvation not to be repented of.
2. The Sorrow of the World: This works death.

Godly sorrow is neither mere regret (primarily in the mind) nor remorse. Remorse, without repentance, is a dead-end street.

• Remorse looks at the sin and its consequences. A person with remorse loves his sin but hates himself because he cannot quit it. Judas, filled with remorse after betraying Christ, threw down the money and hanged himself, stepping from the hell within him to the hell beyond him.
• Repentance looks beyond the sin to Calvary. A person who has repented hates his sin because he loves his Savior. Simon Peter, after denying Christ, “went out, and wept bitterly”. This was godly sorrow that led to repentance and enabled him to become the great preacher of Pentecost.

True repentance is a broken and a contrite spirit. David, mourning his sin (adultery), declared: “Against Thee, and Thee only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4).