Do you remember doing mazes as a kid? Maybe you went to a corn maze around Halloween? Perhaps you have been to a restaurant with your child or grandchild and done the small maze on the kids’ menu? Mazes teach us about going the wrong way and needing to turn around when we hit a dead end. In a way, mazes teach us about repentance.
In Matthew 5, Jesus begins his Sermon on the mount with what we call the Beatitudes. In verse four Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who mourn…” God calls us to mourn, not to be sad or depressed, but to have a deep sorrow over our sinful ways.
This sorrow should lead us to repentance and to change the direction in our life. This mourning is not a one-time thing in our lives as Jesus does not say “those who did mourn,” but he says, “those who mourn”—this indicates that this is a present and continuous experience. The sin in our life should bring us to a daily sense of grief and lead us to ask for forgiveness.
In the maze of life, it is inevitable that we will make a wrong turn or two. We mess up in small ways and big ways. Jesus challenges us to stay humble when we sin.
The blessing of this beatitude is that those who mourn “will be comforted.” God’s forgiveness is ready and available to all who confess and repent—this is true comfort. The apostle John says it this way, in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
When was the last time that you asked for forgiveness for your sins—last week, last month or last year? Try writing down all the sins that you have committed today and then spend time in prayer, asking for forgiveness. After praying, rip up that paper and throw it away as a sign of a new start, a change of direction.
May our hearts stay soft when we hit a dead end, may we mourn when we sin, may we be blessed when God comforts us.
Justin Humphreys is the Executive Pastor of Community Christian with campuses in Morgan Hill and San Jose. He can be reached at [email protected].
