Blessed Are Those Who Mourn - The BeAttitudes

Happy are the sad! 

Wait… what?

The Greek word for mourn is Pentheo, and it is the strongest word that Jesus could have used for deep emotional grief, sorrow and mourning. I am willing to bet that Jesus’ message must have been a surprise to all of those listening within earshot, "Happy are those who are utterly consumed with grief for they shall be comforted." "Happy are the sad!"

Happy Are The Sad?  Wait. What? What did He just say?

I believe that 2 Corinthians 7:10 is the key to understanding this BeAttitude:

¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

This tells me that the sorrow that confers to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, and then that leads to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

There is a sorrow that is of this world and then there is a godly sorrow. Throughout our life there will be or have been times that we mourn (agonize, wail, fret, sob, weep) over adverse events in our life unless we are truly hard-hearted. Believe it or not, there are actually some people who are like that. But Not this type of Mourning. We can mourn, grieve or have sorrow over a wide variety of negative circumstances.

Pentheo implies much more. It is a verb which is a present active participle (whoa, how did I remember that?). This implies repeated action or an ongoing condition. So what Jesus is saying is that the ones who are regularly and steadily mourning over sin with repentance and no regret are those who will be comforted (encouraged).  This is an ongoing pattern of life. On another note, He is speaking to His disciples. Jesus is characterizing His true disciples. This is the heart of the beatitude. Jesus' true disciples never stop grieving over sin in this old world.  

While we are visiting this planet, we need to see ourselves as we really are - forgiven sinners who should be seeking to be holy. Those that mourn are Happy. They fully know the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. They continually seek the Holy Spirit to root out any remaining destructiveness. Heaven is the Joy of our Lord. A proverbial mountain of Joy. These mourners will be comforted by their God.

I know this next story will raise eyebrows and side-eyes. Please hear my heart. This is what God told Himself and I personally – for OUR Family. We don’t judge you, please return the favor.  

Our family of 5 did not celebrate Halloween. And likewise, we did not bash anyone who did. I could not celebrate this day. Before Jesus I was into every occult thing that you could probably come up with. Once I repented from my past life, accepted Jesus, was baptized in the Holy Spirit and delivered from OH so much junk… I did not tempt to set my foot even close to the fire. I knew the counterfeit that the world had, and now I knew the Truth. We did not even do the Hallelujah Parties. (my mom and dad did not even agree with this, but respected our decisions) I can now hear the 'epiphanies' going off in peoples minds as to why I am like I am now. (giggles.. It's okay.)

To us there was no alternative to a pagan ritualistic holiday. (Please hear my heart, I remember where I came from B.C. [before Christ]) We instead had instituted Family Night! We would go out to eat early together or order in pizza, then make popcorn and snuggle in with movies for the evening. (And still do to this day for any in town should they choose to come by.. yes, that means you who is reading this now)

We would also have family prayer time. My little cherubs starting praying for the ‘Halloween People’ to be safe while out and about tonight and to come to know Jesus in a personal way. They prayed this faithfully really almost every night. It will be amazing when they enter Heaven one day and there are lines of people waiting there to greet and thank them for taking the time to pray.

This is what this BeAttitude is to me. My cherubs cried and prayed and interceded for the darkness in this world to be lifted and taken away from people. God heard their cries and comforted them with His Joy.

Prayer Time

Lord, please help me to have a heart for the world. I want to intercede for the lost, the wandering, and the ones who have fallen between the cracks of life. Break my heart for what breaks yours. Encourage me to do what’s right, even when it is the hard choice. Thank you for your forgiveness, your mercy and your Joy… and your sweet, sweet comfort.

Copyright © 2015 Christine Osberghaus

BeAttitudes - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 We must be humble in our hearts (spirits). If you put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” you will understand what Jesus meant right here.

In other words, when we come to God, we have to be transparent and attest to our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and ‘poverty’. We cannot be complacent or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God, or know how to do things on our own without Him. If we have this attitude of heart, God cannot bless us. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”

Pride can take all kinds of forms, but to me the worst is spiritual pride.  Jonathan Edwards writes, “It is by spiritual pride that the mind defends and justifies itself in other errors and defends itself against light by which it might be corrected and reclaimed.  The spiritually proud man thinks he is full of light already and feels that he does not need instruction, so he is ready to ignore the offer of it.

On the other hand, the humble person is like a little child who easily receives instruction.  He is cautious in his estimate of himself, sensitive as to how liable he is to go astray.  If it is suggested to him that he is going astray, he is most ready to check into the matter.”

Many years ago, one of my precious cherubs confronted me on something I was doing. I loved watching C-Span (no haters now please..ha). I am a news junkie. I admit it. It was not in moderation either. It was probably Election time. One day I guess Ms. Bunny had had enough of it. She asked me, “Momma, how does this show give glory to God?” I instantly tried to justify and defend myself. I mean, really.. little 5 year old, who do you think you are dealing with here? But then I heard that little voice inside me. ‘Listen to her words. They are truth.' My pride tried to clog up my good judgment. Here I thought I was so full of spiritual stuff that I almost missed out on Godly instruction. From my 5-year old! Thank you Lord!

The poor (humble) in spirit are happy. They are humble and know where they were before knowing Jesus relationally. They see their shortcomings, they repent, and have a passion to follow their Savior - no matter the cost. The kingdom of grace is made up of the humble of heart; the kingdom of glory is theirs. 

 

Prayer Time
Oh Heavenly Father, I almost missed a good lesson from You by blocking my listening ears with pride, with distractions, with vain justifications and blind defenses. Please forgive me. I want a heart that chases only after You. Please keep talking to my heart; even if you use a 5 year old. I will be listening. I promise. 

Copyright © 2015 Christine Osberghaus

 

(Self-Control) Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This.. But the Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control

Mr. Rational is baptized in the Holy Spirit

Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

~ Author Unknown

We had a very busy fun day in the land of Snohomish county. We went on a neighborhood hike to each find a special treasure to place into the glass box for the week. It was actually a polyglass cube with a lid. Each week we would find something special to us and display it in this box for the whole week. On these adventures I had a rule. You could not pass up a puddle. If there was a puddle around, we were required to jump in it. Remember we were in the Seattle area, there were generally always puddles around in the mornings.

After a wonderful treasure hunt we headed to McCollum park to play on the equipment for an hour or so, have lunch that I pre-packed into a cute picnic box and then pick wild blackberries for tonight’s dessert. We dropped Ms. Bunny off at her private school and  I must say by the time we arrived back at the house, we were all ready for a good nap.

 

The afternoon was as busy after naptime with crafts and bible games for Mr. Rational and Ms. Chatty. Then we were off to school pickup for Ms. Bunny. She was now in K-4 half day afternoons. Her teacher was awesome. She had a name that was very hard to pronounce for my daughter.  Ms. Bunny was mostly deaf, and pronounced it incorrectly most times. That wouldn’t have mattered to most, but her name was Teacher Schmidt. ‘Nuff said there.

Once home we all pitched in to get dinner started because Himself would be coming home soon! Himself traveled on the Metro bus system and it was very punctual. I  knew that he would have about 60-70 minutes of downtime on his commute. That was enough time for him to decompress after his hectic workday and be ready for our sweet cherubs to attack him! They would wait at the front picture window surveying the street for a glimpse of ‘Daddy!’

After dinner and the kids baths that night it was prayer time. Mr. Rational kept adding things and people to be able to stay up longer. I let it go a little while but finally cut him off when he started praying for his stuffed dog. He just was not ready to be in bed. He made that clear to me. I wanted adult time with Himself. I wanted to talk to someone over the age of 4 who did not use the word potty.

Mr. Rational kept making noise once in bed. I went to his room 3 times to quiet him down. He would shoot me the cutest looks with those ice blue eyes of his. He was hard to discipline due to those eyes! But a mommy must stay consistent.  Finally I told him that if I heard one more peep out of him I would come in and give him 2 earned swats.

Himself and I had just settled in on the couch with our popcorn, ready to watch some TV when I heard Mr. Rational babbling loudly again. I gave Himself the ‘Mommy look’, pursed my lips and jumped to my feet and headed down the hall quite annoyed with my son. 

As I approached his room, it had to be a giant angel holding me back. I stopped in my tracks right before his bedroom. That still small voice said LISTEN!  So I did. I heard Mr. Rational giggling and babbling on and on and on.  After a few minutes I felt a release from the invisible death grip on my arm and I gently walked into his bedroom. Here was the conversation verbatim:

Me: Son, what are you doing?

Mr. Rational: Mommy, listen to this! (babbling here for about a minute)

Me: What is that?

Mr. Rational: It is the language of the angels and Jesus loves it.

Me: How did this start?

Mr. Rational: I asked for it! I told the angel that Rachel talked that yaba-daba language like you and daddy and I wanted it too.

Me: I am so proud of you. Let’s pray together and then off to dreamland bubba.

I could have made a huge mistake by barging in and wounding my child’s spirit. Here he wanted the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence in speaking with tongues, and he got it because he asked for it. He had already accepted Jesus earlier.

I can best sum this up with the wise words from the Music Machine:

Self-control is just controlling myself
It's listening to my heart
And doing what is smart
Self-control is the very best way to go
So I think that I'll control myself


Written and sung by Mike Milligan
©Copyright 1977 Sparrow Song (a div. of EMI Christian Music Publishing)|(Admin. by BMG Music Publishing) Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc. (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)|(Admin. by BMG Music Publishing) Candle Company Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)|(Admin. by BMG Music Publishing)

2 Peter 1:5-7 New Century Version (NCV)

⁵ Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; ⁶ and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; ⁷ and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love.

Prayer

Lord, help me. I want to be a good reflection of you. When I act out, I surely do not emulate you in anyway. Holy Spirit, help me to keep myself in check. Lead me in the right way. Show me in the Word what to do to keep myself on track. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you Lord. I don’t want to follow another, only you. Help me in raising my children, to discipline in love and kind correction, not wounding their spirits in anyway. I want them to be like you too. 

Copyright © 2015 Christine Osberghaus