And it is only when we surrender to Him, acknowledging our total dependency, that we become open to what He desires to do in us. This is the first step. Now we turn our attention to the consequences of seeing our own spiritual poverty. The result of seeing our own insufficiency and sinfulness is a deep and profound mourning as our hearts are broken before God. Perhaps the first question we need to ask ourselves concerns what Jesus meant by mourning.
People mourn in various ways.
In fact, some mourning may be considered sinful mourning. Amnon was so consumed by unfulfilled, incestuous lust that he mourned over it. There are those who mourn over their unfulfilled desires, even when those desires are sinful in nature. They are deeply sorry that they have been denied some pleasure. This kind of mourning is certainly not what Jesus had in mind when He spoke of mourning.