+DEV+ Grieving Is Normal

Date: November 9, 2015 1:19 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Grieving Is Normal

Grieving Is Normal

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12:15

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 13:11-12

To paraphrase Paul, when I was young, I grieved like a child. I used to grieve selfishly, despairingly, for the pain that I felt upon losing each grandparent. As I grew older, and experienced more loss, I began to grieve more and more for death itself and the harrowing effects of sin in this world. 

A mark of sanctification is when your heart begins to hurt with those who have suffered a great loss, even if you weren't necessarily close to them. Anger may soon follow: Satan! Not you again! Leave us alone! Haven't you done enough? Your heartache can be hard to explain to others: No, I wasn't close to him. No, I hadn't seen her in 10 years. It's a cry like those of the psalmists, calling out to God in anguish over a broken world. Mourning with those who mourn is not something that we can will to happen, or even something we may desire. But the Holy Spirit brings it over time, often after we've known many who suffer. The more we mourn with others, the more our hearts align with Jesus' heart of compassion.

Insight: We are to sit, with those who mourn, on what author Nicholas Wolterstorff calls the mourner's bench. There we grow in compassion and understanding.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

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