The Beatitudes – Chapter Five
Blessed Are They That Mourn
Printables
- Mourn coloring page to print and color and keep in your mini-binder. Use the back of the page to write out some favorite quotes from the chapter.
Assignment for next week
- Read chapter six in the book
- Complete chapter six in the workbook
- After the pages are completed, click on Week 6, Chapter 6 on the Workshop homepage
- AND add a short comment on this page to help out other women and share what you’ve learned. And leave a comment replying to someone else if you can!
WOW – this week’s video – the analogy was so, so powerful. I also jotted down what you said = my heart is a sin factory, just churning out sin and do not use their (my family, friends, acquaintances) sin as an opportunity for me to get angry. OUCH – I needed that.
The questions on page 47 and 48 – the self-examination questions – I want to use those daily.
Perhaps, though, the biggest thing that stuck out to me is a continuation of something that snagged my attention last week. When Dr. Lloyd-Jones was comparing the man you are supposed to be – but clarifying what it did not mean – the underlying message was one that hit me hard. I am to be a serious woman – but that does NOT mean to affect the seriousness. This struggle with affectations runs so much deeper in my heart than I was aware of. When I noted this line of thought in my journal – I looked up the definitions of each and one struck me = we are to be sorrowful (experience grief, great sadness, and woe) BUT NOT be morose (sullen, gloomy, depressed) as well as NOT to be miserable (grumpy, sour, wretchedly unhappy, uncomfortable) – this sense of uncomfortableness was described as how you feel after eating waaaaay too much and not being able to rest comfortably. That word is the opposite of the promise of this Beatitude – Bless are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Being uncomfortable is the inability to find and experience comfort. God does not call me to that – He calls me to be sorry, grief stricken over my sin, but then He also draws me close to comfort me. I cannot be caught up in the feelings or the affectations – because then literally I am looking only to me and I will not be comforted. The awareness of sin is to humble me and drive me to look outside of myself – because there is only One Savior – Jesus Christ – He alone is able to deal with my sin and comfort the grief from all that has been destroyed/messed up from my sin.
I appreciate your comments, Sunshine. Especially the comments about morose, sullen, gloomy, depressed and miserable. I need to be more sorrowful over my sin, not my circumstances. And it is only in looking to the Lord Jesus for comfort, which is also a strengthening, can true comfort come. Not in trying to “do better next time”. It’s such a fine line isn’t it? I find I can’t rest in Him when I am striving in my own ability, but in responding from rest, He strengthens me to do what He is pleasing to Him. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. It is also a faith that He will accomplish what concerns me as I respond to Him.
Sorry for getting slightly off topic, just thinking “out loud” through my fingers this morning.
My biggest take-away this week is to model Christ. That should be a no-brainer for a Christian, but the doctor has a way of making it make practical sense. Read the scriptures, study and meditate on them, pray to God to reveal my sin to me, then to reveal the fullness of Christ, so I can recognize what is sin, mourn, repent, and be restored/comforted, so I can extend this grace to others through holy joy, that others may know their need for Christ, mourn and be comforted also.
Question (if anyone has met with success in this area): What, if anything other than pray, can you do when you’ve shown (in a gentle, loving way) someone their sinfulness, their eyes are open to it as sin, but they refuse to do anything about it? I feel like I just keep hitting a brick wall and suffer the consequences repeatedly (ridicule and hurt), because of the lack of repentance. Is this person even still a Christian–maybe not according to the doctor’s definition? Thanks for your help!
Love the cup analogy!
The Beatitudes are making much more sense to me; much more to learn. Thank you for this series. God is using this for all of us.
Kari, Thank you so much for the cup analogy. I never thought about the rocks and pebbles that we use to distract from our sins. This chapter has really opened my eyes and heart to my sins even the little sinful thoughts and then when I look at the world around us in the news it really brings it home like Dr MLJ said about Jesus weeping at the sin in the world. Thank you for this study.
Yes! The pretty pebbles that distract is always what trips me up! So thankful that my friend came up with this analogy! It has been so helpful to remember that our cup is valuable but full of a stinky mess. I recently watched an interview with Rosaria Butterfield, I love how she said it, “We need to learn how to hate our sin without hating ourselves.” So true!
I love the cup analogy as well. Getting my doodle on a designing something to put in my bible as a reminder.
I am so loving now the doctor is clarifying things for me. The beatitudes never made much sense until now. One of the things I guess I never really thought of is that I’m suppose to mourn the sins of the world not just my own sins.
I finished week five but totally forgot to comment – I know I have mentioned this before, but I am going through this again, almost a year to the dates later (not quite, but almost). The study made such an impression the first time through – it was humbling – so very humbling. To top that off last year was one of those years that progressively got harder, each month brought some new trial to pile on the teetering top – it was such a hard year. I felt battered and bruised and overwhelmed when 2023 dawned. I reached out to Kari and I prayed. Honestly, I was a bit embarrassed at the fact that I felt like God wanted me to go back through the study. It was amazing the first time, I recommended it to everyone, I told everybody about it…what if they thought (especially people I know in real life) that the study was somehow lacking or that I over-recommended this study? It sounds silly to type that out now because on week five and I am SO thankful to be going through this a second time. First of all, the study is not somehow lacking and I definitely did not over-recommend it. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow upon sorrow and stress upon stress that I needed to re-learn what Dr. Lloyd-Jones is teaching in each chapter. And if you ever have read a life-changing book or complete a life-changing study…once is not enough. I re-read books all of the time, so why in the world would I not jump at the chance to re-do this study?!?!