Mourning Our Sins

             Mourning is something we have all experienced.  It is usually identified with the loss of someone that we love.  However, we may also experience that kind of deep sorrow or grief over the loss of a relationship and difficult decisions we must make.  We’ve probably all mourned the death of someone that we loved dearly.  Some of us have mourned lost friendships when our friends moved away, or we just moved on in our lives.  Several of my friends are now mourning the difficult decisions they must make to care for elderly parents.  I’ve been there.  I know that deep sorrow too.

            None of us can escape mourning, but have you ever considered that we should be mourning our sinful lives.  By its nature, mourning implies separation—from deceased loved ones, from friends, from happier times.  What more profound separation can we experience but the separation from God.  That’s what sin does to us.  God is a holy God.  He cannot tolerate sin.  That’s why Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 34b NIV84).  As Jesus bore the sins of the world, those sins separated Him from His Father.  That was the pain that He endured for us!

            The Scripture repeatedly calls us to repentance, but what does that mean?  It involves recognizing that we are sinners, and with a changed heart and mind, desiring to turn away from sin and towards God.  However, I think to experience the deep, life-changing repentance that God desires, we must also mourn or grieve the sin that has separated us from God.  After King David sinned with Bathsheba, he wrote, “4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge….17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51: 4, 17 NIV84).  David knew that admitting his sin was not enough.  He needed that “broken and contrite heart” as a recognition of his grief at sinning against his God. 

            We all sin every day.  I hope we also remember to repent and ask forgiveness, but perhaps we also need to grieve those sins, just as they grieve our Father.  Sin separates us from the Father who loves us.  That alone is more than enough reason to mourn our sins.  Thankfully, we don’t have to stay in those moments of grief.  We have a Father who not only forgives (I John 1: 9) but also comforts (Matthew 5: 4).  David’s prayer is a good place to start, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51: 10).

Psalm 51

Matthew 5: 4

I John 1: 9

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