Tears

11/02/12 When was the last time you shed tears over either someone else’ sin or perhaps your own? Paul sends for his beloved friends from Ephesus in Acts 20. He knows he will not see them again and he reminds them of how he served the Lord in humility with many tears. He warned them with tears flowing from his eyes about what might happen to them if they strayed from “the word of His grace.” 20:19, 29-32. Paul was a broken man and his tears were the evidence of it. He was broken over the hardness of hearts and how easily many were being lead astray. And because of this ‘brokenness’ Paul was often before the Lord interceding. Even our Lord Jesus Christ shed tears over the sinfulness of humanity. Three times the Bible tells us that Jesus wept. Luke 19:41 records our Lord weeping over the city of Jerusalem because judgment was coming upon them for their refusal to receive Him. In John 11:35 our Lord is weeping. When he arrived at the tomb of Lazarus the Jews and Lazarus’ sisters were weeping. Death had taken another and it broke our Lord’s heart to the point that He wept. And in Heb.5:7 we read of our Savior before the Father shedding tears while he prayed. I have often heard that tears are a sign of weakness. But the greatest Christian who ever lived shed tears and our Savior and Lord shed them. And until we begin to shed tears because we are broken over our sin and those of others we may not see the hand of God at work. Go before the Lord and the word of His grace and seek His heart and you will be like our Lord, Paul, and many others and allow those tears to run down your cheeks. And then serve the Lord in humility and with tears! Prayer: Father, in the name of Jesus I ask that you break our hearts for Your glory and our good. Amen.