The Withering Truth

The Withering Truth
Matthew 5:4 (KJV) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

We have an innate ability to visualize complete fantasy while believing that we are contemplating reality. No matter what the sin of man there is an excuse or reasoning that will turn the truth on its head. Proverbs 21:2 tells us, “Every way of man is right in his own eyes.” Sin not only seduces us but it blinds us to the bondage and wretchedness of our sinful condition. Truth is turned upside down and right becomes wrong while evil becomes good. The deeper we travel down the wide easy road of sin and self the greater our deception becomes until we become the embodiment of what Paul was describing in Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”
The first beatitude spoke of our intellectual knowledge of sin. The poor in spirit understand that they are spiritual beggars, wretched, blind, and poor. The second beatitude refers to our emotional response to this truth. The story is told of an incident during the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann. Yiheil Dinur, a witness and victim of the atrocities at Auschwitz twenty years earlier, entered the courtroom and came face to face with the man responsible. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably and then fainted. Was he overcome by hatred, fear, horrid memories? He explained that all at once he realized Eichmann was not the godlike army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. "I was afraid about myself," said Dinur. "I saw that I am capable to do this. I am... exactly like he."
We refer to our offenses as mistakes, errors, or mishaps they are never sin. That word sounds so dirty and deep inside we know that there is nothing we can do to correct our sin so we avoid staring them in the eye and seeing them for what they are. We don’t see ourselves like Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, or even the drug addict living under the bridge. We are far better than the prostitute, the murderer or the rapist; our sins cannot be the same. Then we find ourselves at Calvary. The cross of Christ rises before us and we must deal with the knowledge that it was our sin that crucified Jesus. It was the lie we told, the gossip we engaged in, the lust we held when we looked on our neighbor. Here at the foot of the cross we see ourselves as Dinur did when he looked at the ordinary man who had overseen the murder of millions and realized he was no different. In this place we understand our poverty of spirit. In this place we can truly mourn.