Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tears

At one time or another all of us have had tears. We have them for many reasons, sadness, joy, illness, birth, death, accidents, and there are many more reasons.


John 11:33; "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled". Jesus reveals His heart and feelings here. When Jesus saw Mary and her friends in tears He groaned in the spirit. He not only was concerned, He was inwardly affected and sincerely moved. It says He was troubled. He wanted to help them. Are we truly affect when someone is sad and hurting? Are we truly affected when someone is happy? We need to be.

John 11:35; "Jesus wept". It shows He had tears of love for Mary and those around Him. Jesus feels the same way about us. He knows when we are sad or happy. Jesus is a man of love and was not ashamed to show tears. This was tears of love. Do we have the love for others as Jesus did and does?

Acts 20:19; "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:" Paul had tears because of his caring for the lost. He continued in his work even though there was opposition. He was a very tender and compassionate man. He served his Lord with many tears, he was committed. If we could only serve the Lord with the heart Paul had. We need to have a true and faithful commitment to the Lord, always.

Acts 20:31; "Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears". Paul was faithful as he continued to warn people night and day. He was concerned about the souls of everyone, he spoke to them with affection and concern. He also warned the righteous, that they should not turn away. He warned them with tears. We need to have the affection and concern and warn the people of what can and will happen to their souls should they not accept the Lord.

II Corinthians 2:4; "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you". Paul wrote to the people because of a loving and anguished heart. He assured them he didn't want to grieve the people. He wrote because of a sin that had or was occurring. There are times we have so much sorrow over something someone has done that it is easy to have tears. We should always have compassion for someone that is perhaps walking away from the Lord. We should always pray for them.

Hebrews 12:17; "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears". This is talking about Esau who sold his birthright for meat (verse 16). When Esau desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. So, he now saw the blessing he treated so lightly was worth having but he was rejected by God. Even though he had tears or remorse God, in His righteous judgment would not change His mind. There are times we have tears of remorse perhaps for a sin that we have committed. When we are deeply sorry it is very easy to cry over sin.

Luke 7:37-38; "And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, v. 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment". This woman had love and devotion for Jesus. She wet the feet of Jesus with her tears. Weeping could be an expression of sorrow, grief, or a grateful love toward Jesus. When she was weeping she was expressing what was in her heart, just as we might weep with sorrow, grief or a grateful heart. We need to have real love and devotion towards Jesus that shows our consciousness of the sinfulness of our past sins. We need to have the love for Him as He had for us when He gave His life on the cross for us.

Psalm 126:5-6; "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. v. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him". We need to show faithfulness, righteousness, regardless of what pain we may be going through as there will be a great harvest of God's blessings. We can be assured that what we sow will be richly blessed by God in the future.

Thank you for dropping by. May you always know the love, joy, and peace of the Lord.

2 comments:

Debi said...

Why is it that so many people today, me included, are afraid/ashamed to cry...at least in front of people? I do not cry easily...I've struggled with this because so many people I know cry in church. The struggle isn't with them crying...it's with me NOT crying. The enemy has told me so many times that I am not really 'close' to God because I don't cry and everyone else is. I have to remind myself that I am not a cryer and that crying doesn't dictate closeness to God. I 'cry' in my spirit...I groan for the things of the Lord. Thank you for this post.

Jenifer Metzger said...

I am a cry baby. :) I cry when I am mad, sad, hurt, sick, tired, happy, you name the emotion, I cry. I do not like to cry in front of people, but often do. GReat post!