PSALM 126:5,6 – Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

THEME OF THE DAY. THE TEAR-SHEDDING CHRISTIAN. Quick Bible quiz. What is the shortest verse in the Bible? It is found in John’s gospel and the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It reads, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Yet, to really grasp the meaning of this verse, one must take the next one with it . . . “So the Jews said, ‘See how He loved Him!’” (John 11:36). The follow-on verse of thirty-six provides both substance and clarity to Jesus weeping. They were tears of incredible love.

When it comes to shedding tears, all of us do in life, but not all our tears are like that of our Lord in this funeral setting. Jesus’ tears were selfless. Often our tears are selfish. We may cry when we don’t get what we want or are treated in a way we don’t like. Not so with Jesus. And not so in today’s scripture. There is a right type of tears Christians shed. In numerous ways we are to be tear-shedding Christians. Such expressions are heart revelations and reveal deep compassion, burdens, and even anguish over hurting people. So, let’s take Jesus and today’s scripture and consider two situations calling us to be tear-shedding Christians as a result of being controlled by the love of Him who shed the right kind of tears; selfless and sacrificial toward hurting and lost people.

First, there is the tear-shedding Christian who sees hurting, sorrowing, and suffering people around them and the tears of compassion flow for them. This was Jesus at Lazarus’ funeral. He wasn’t weeping for Himself and the loss of His close friend. Our Lord knew He was going to raise Him from the dead. No, these were tears of compassion for the hurt and pain death brought to people. He saw the emotional damage caused by sin – death – and its horrific pain in people. Friends, are we seeing hurting people around us who are in the bondage of sin’s consequences – pain, sorrow, and suffering – and is such compassion producing a heart and a face of tear-shedding out of our love for them? We are to be known for our love to sinner and saint alike. It is to be a love of deep affection and action, to include tears, in bringing the good news of the One who not only wept for hurting sinners, but died for them!

Next, there is the tear-shedding Christian who sees people as sheep without a shepherd and becomes burdened for their salvation which produces tears of burden for their salvation. In today’s scripture, we find two “agricultural metaphors”. One is the sowing of seed which points us to the Parable of the Sower in the Gospels and the sowing of God’s Word, the Word of salvation (Matthew 13:1-23). We also have the metaphor of the harvest. This reminds us of Jesus telling us to “pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:1-2). And one would be drawn to the Apostle Paul’s words about the work of sowing and reaping in his letter to the Galatians, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). The point of application in the sowing and reaping is that we won’t be involved in either without a burden, even a burden of tears, that shapes our hearts and understandings to realize our existence in this life is for the work of the Gospel. It is a work that flows from a burdened, even “teary” life that sees both God’s people and sinners in need of the Lord Jesus. Such a burden and tears drive us to get the Word of comfort and hope to both. We become like Christ viewing hurting humanity, in the church and outside, and commit to the hard and exhausting toil of sowing the Word in their lives.

Tear-shedding Christians. They flow from a sensitive, compassionate, and Christ-like heart. Let’s ensure that Jesus isn’t the only One weeping over hurting humanity; a weeping that leads to action to serve hurting humanity.

PRAYER: “Father, never let me grow cold and insensitive to Your Gospel, Your people, and those needing Your Son”

QUOTE: “We shed many tears on the way to heaven and some are because of our compassion for hurting people.”