Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Surely mourning can not be part of true happiness? Maybe churchgoers have done their best to be mourn*full* but have done so out of a misguided notion of asceticism, not in an attempt to attain greater joy. Those who mourn take their own sin seriously, take other peoples sin seriously and are greived by a sinful broken world. The world might tell us to ignore this as much as we can - that you are a good person, that people are generally good - but when life doesn't match up to those ideas, things start to fall apart and we end up crumbling in despair or deluding ourselves.
True happiness, true comfort is found in taking sin seriously and taking it to the cross. Repenting and knowing our sins are forgiven. Knowing that the sins against us and those we love can be entrusted to the one who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). And knowing that one day "[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
True happiness, true comfort is found in taking sin seriously and taking it to the cross. Repenting and knowing our sins are forgiven. Knowing that the sins against us and those we love can be entrusted to the one who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). And knowing that one day "[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
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