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Jesus is ushering in the Kingdom of God. I like to think of Matthew 5 to 7 as his manifesto of what the Kingdom life is all about. This is the second of what is known as the Beatitudes. The Greek word for blessed is μακάριος (transliteration – makarios) It literally means fortunate, happy or more than happy.

Fortunate [blessed] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:4 (ESV)

How will I find comfort? When I mourn, I will be comforted and become more than happy. This is a promise from Jesus. This is part of the Jesus Manifesto where Jesus lays out the precepts of how to be a disciple and follower of Jesus.

What should I embrace? Jesus destroys the myth that all will be a bed of roses. I am going to mourn; I will have grief in my life and that is reality. I am going to suffer.

We can reject that or we can embrace it. While this might refer to the kind of mourning related to death. The real spiritual question is whether we will mourn and change our minds (repent) about our missing God’s goal (aka sin)?

Why is godly sorrow important? The Apostle Paul elaborates on all of this very well by saying (2 Cor. 7:10)

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Godly sorrow allows us to change our minds (repent). That leads to salvation (being more than happy).