Daily Devotional

I am rarely a crier, especially in public. In fact, I used to react to preachers who were “pulpit criers” who made me wonder if it was for real or for show. Frankly, it was wrong of me to accuse their motives. It is also wrong of me to be embarrassed  if I cry in public, especially as a man. However, the older I get the easier it is to cry. Perhaps I am becoming more fully human.

While Jesus walked this planet His prayers and pleas to His Heavenly Father were “filled with loud crying and tears.” God knows, there was plenty to cry over! I have always been touched by the shortest verse in the Bible: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35). The  actual Greek words the apostle John uses can be understood to mean: “Jesus exploded in tears.” Here was the Son of God, who knows that in seconds He will raise His dear friend, Lazarus, from the dead, nonetheless bursting out with loud crying and tears over  the painful reality of sin and death.

In these days facing the reality of the death of Karon’s sister, Marsha (who is more of a sister to me than a sister-in-law), the tears flow easily. Tears of sadness. Tears of hope. Tears nonetheless. And you know what, it feels good to be unshackled  by a youthful embarrassment that somehow crying is weakness. If it was good enough for the Perfect Son of Man, it’s especially good for me.

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation