The Tender Tear

Psalm 56:8, NLT You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book. 

I read a beautiful devotional this morning and I just cannot walk away without sharing it with you. It touched me personally and intimately.

I confess I’m a crier.  I cry at movies, at baseball games when the national anthem is played, at graduations, weddings, and funerals.  I cry when I hear a sad story, when someone else cries, when I share what God has done in my life, when I’m angry, and even when I laugh hard enough.

I hate the fact that I cry so easily.  It can be incredibly embarrassing for one thing.  And for another, it puts people in an awkward position.  But crying can be a good thing! God created tears – it is in His design that we cry.

I love the Psalms because they give us beautiful pictures of what our intimate relationship with God is like.  And Psalm 56:8 (NLT) gives us one of those snapshots of God’s tenderness with us when we are experiencing incredible sorrow in our life. 

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book.”  (I’m sure I have a very BIG bottle!)

God not only keeps track of all our sorrows, hurts and heartaches, He has recorded them in His book. Every tear we’ve cried He has stored in our bottle, the one He keeps just for us. 

I wonder if my bottle has my name on it?  Is it a special color?  I wonder if God, my Father looks at my bottle full of tears and says, “Ah, that one is my daughter, Kristi’s! Her bottle of tears is so precious to me and I treasure each one. I am intimately acquainted with all her ways and I love her.  When she has cried tears that no one sees, I have seen, I know and cherish each one because I cherish her.”

What a beautiful gentle picture this is of our God – a Father who tenderly collects our tears and holds them close to His heart. 

Have you ever stopped to consider that God is keeping track of all your sorrows? He knows each one of them.  He has seen you cry until you can’t cry any more.  He has witnessed your heartache over a difficult child, a wayward spouse, a broken friendship, or the death of a loved one.  He has seen your tears when you have cried all alone in the dark, not sure of where to turn or where to go.  He has recorded each one in His book and collected your tears in the bottle He has just for you.  How precious you are to Him!

Let the tears flow and know that your God cares for you intimately and with great passion!Father, Thank you for seeing my tears and for the promise that I am never alone in my sorrow.  Amen.

And with those beautiful, inspiring words and thoughts, I leave you for this week. I hope your weekend is bursting with love, hope, peace, mercy and grace. If you do have tears, remember our Lord sees every one and is there for you.

Rest Stop on the Highway of Life

Matt. 10:42 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

A cup of cold water doesn’t sound like much unless you are the thirsty one. In this scripture Jesus was talking to His disciples. As vivid as my imagination is, I struggle with what it really was like to have to walk on dirt roads everywhere you needed to go. We think nothing of hopping in the car and driving, in my case, the 36+ miles into San Antonio. I know I would give it much more thought if I had to walk there! I couldn’t carry enough water with me to make that journey; the weight would be prohibitive and cumbersome. I like to think along the way I would run into caring folks offering a cup of cold water…but would I?

I remember a scorching summer’s day many years ago, sixteen to be exact, when my car broke down on IH-35 between Waco and Georgetown. I was traveling with my then two year old grandson, Douglas. This was before everyone had a cell phone & I had to walk quite a distance to get to a phone to call for help. I had to carry Douglas on my shoulders as I walked along the side of the interstate during weekend traffic. It was horrible! Traffic buzzing by at high rates of speed, relentless heat, no water, no shade and a very hot and cranky two year old on my aching shoulders. No one, not one person stopped and offered help of any kind. Not even a cup of water.

The first place of refuge I came to was a La Quinta Inn. The desk clerk refused to let me use the desk phone, telling me there was a payphone at the gas station up the road. Can you picture what we must have looked like? A little blond boy red as a beet from the heat and sweat pouring off both of us and the clerk said we had to go further up the road to use a phone as I was standing in a place with a phone in every room. It irked the desk clerk to no end but I took the baby into the rest room to get wet paper towels to cool him off. I was beyond caring about her preferences at this point. My pleas fell on deaf ears, her opinion cease to matter to me. I cupped my hands to hold water for him to drink from the bathroom faucet. I didn’t have any money on me to even buy a coke or bottle of water.

Jesus made a point they could all relate to when He said “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these…” I believe the ‘cup of cold water’ is compassion, care, help, assistance, serving a need, and help in times of trouble…all the things He does for us.

Sometimes people literally need a cup of cold water. Sometimes is it the spiritual Living Water they need most of all. Regardless of the need, are we as Christians ready to help meet the need? Or do we buzz by in our hurried lives too busy to care or notice? I believe we like to think we would help but when the rubber meets the road, do we? I know I have been guilty of wanting to help, telling myself I would but my life got in the way more or less. My needs had to be met, too, after all. Didn’t they? My schedule was hectic and crazy, maybe I can help later. Maybe I’ll call to check on them; maybe I won’t get around to it. My intentions were good but my follow through fell through instead. “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these…”

Let’s ask the Lord to help us be the water bearers in life, sharing the Living Water first and foremost and offering a cup of cold water to those around us in need.

Evidence Not Opinion

Ephesians 4:14-16  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

In a day of instant foods, high tech info and worldwide communication at our fingertips we are exposed to more diversity in culture, politics, ethics and faiths than any time before in history. As a lover of cultural foods, I enjoy the exposure to ethnic foods I can access without getting off my couch. That is an example of the good. We now have a heightened awareness of how easily we can offend an entire culture by something as simple as an ‘incorrect’ handshake, a lingering glance, or eye contact. Knowledge is power when it is used for good.

For today, let’s look at the culture of Christianity. Christians come in every color, nationality, economic level, political preference and are as diverse a group as you will find. Yet, we are all family members, siblings in God’s family when we call Jesus Christ ‘Lord’. Sadly, it is ‘family’ we most often take for granted. There are times we do not even show family the same courtesy we show strangers on the street. Yes, I am still speaking of the Christian family but this holds true to our earthly families as well.

Just as there as times in our earthly families we hold our tongues for the sake of keeping the peace, this happens in our Christian family, too. However, like in our earthly families, there are times when harsh and insensitive words are spoken about and/or to a Christian family member. Gossip is shared disguised as concern. Silence in the face of sin is deafening. You can “love someone to death” as you watch them flounder in sin without so much as throwing a life raft of God’s Word.

Proverbs 27:5-6 says: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”

Have you ever heard that "you can catch more flies with honey?" The intent of the statement is to say that we can win people over to our viewpoint by being sweet and kind, more than we can through anger, bluntness, or harshness. And yet, this concept can be misleading when it comes to using God's Word as God designed it to be used in the life of His people. Our method of working with people is not only to be in the manner that might be viewed as "sweet, kind, loving, gentle, and gracious, etc.;" but God's Word is also "useful for...rebuking." In other words, we are to show biblical evidence of the sin and say, essentially, "Stop doing that." This is why knowledge of God's word is vital. We are to show evidence, not merely voice an opinion. People typically don't care a hoot about our opinions.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Leading Of The Spirit." 

The Spirit of God causes every true-born son of God to burn with love to the rest of the family. He who is a stranger to Christian love is a stranger to divine grace. Brethren, we have our disputes, for we dwell where it must needs be that offenses come; but we would be slow to take offense and slower still to give it, for we are one in Christ Jesus, and our hearts are knit together by his Spirit. I take it that no honest man ought to hold his tongue concerning any of the errors of the day, it is a mean way of cultivating ease for yourself, and gaining, a popularity not worth the having; we must speak the truth whether we offend or please, but this is to be done in love and because of love.

Compassion and Friends

Psa 25:6 Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, For they have been from of old.

Mark 6:34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

James 5:11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

All of the scriptures above tell of God’s compassion for us. Thank God, literally, thank GOD, for His compassion. Without it, we wouldn’t stand a chance for we continue to come up with ways to do stupid, sinful things to need it. I shudder to think of the things I’ve done this week alone!

Compassion has a few constant ‘friends’ that work together. Empathy is one of them. Sympathy is another. One definition of compassion is "to suffer with another." (Heb. 4:15 and 10:34). Sympathy essentially implies a feeling of recognition of another's suffering, while empathy is actually sharing another's suffering. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes".

I recently was a backseat passenger. Viewing the world from that angle, rather than as the driver, I noticed things I usually miss. Sometimes we look at someone else's life and think they have it easy, or we criticize them for handling something as they did. Unless we have been through the exact same situation, though we think we understand, we probably really do not fully understand their pain, their frustrations, etc. God intends that we empathize with our fellow human beings and show them compassion just as He has given us. His word has this to say.

Romans 2:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 

Phil. 2:4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 

Gal. 5:1-3 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 

Col. 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 

May we always walk with compassion for those in need. May our heart be full of empathy for our fellow man.