"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping also, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled." John 11:33
We live in a manly world, in many ways. We hear good manly sayings, such as "Never let them see you sweat" or "Never let them see you cry." It's just not manly if you cry, or if you admit to pain, or if you let others see that something is bothering you.
Stupid, isn't it? You can see in the verse just above that Jesus, who is the epitome of what it means to be truly human, but also truly a man, well, in the verse above, what does Jesus do? He is moved, moved very deeply in his spirit. He is greatly troubled. In fact, just two verses later, we have one of the shortest verses in the Bible, which simply says, "Jesus wept."
If Jesus, who is truly and completely the definition of what it means to be human, cries and is deeply moved, then why do we tend to think that such things aren't manly?
Now, I admit that I have a bit of a bias in this. It's a well-known fact that, when I face meaningful moments in life, tears come rather easily to my eyes. I have led many confirmation classes, and inevitably, on their confirmation day, I will cry. It's even gotten to the point that the class will ask me ahead of time if I'm going to cry. I really have no shame in telling them that I will, since I invest so much of myself into their lives and spiritual formation.
For some reason, though, we have a tendency to downplay the role of those deep, primal emotions and feelings when it comes to our faith. We seem to have fallen into the more scientific mindset, that you must be objective and dispassionate when it comes to describing your faith. If you get too caught up, or are too deeply moved or inspired, well, you are often seen as a bit of a nutcase, who is overly reliant upon your emotions than upon your rational thoughts.
And yet, take a good, long look at God. God is one who is hardly objective in how He views His people. He calls Himself jealous when they go looking for other gods. He calls Himself their husband, in which case, you would hope that He's not objective and dispassionate about us. As we see in Jesus, He's deeply moved, and greatly troubled that we face such pain and suffering in our lives. God is hardly a rational, objective God, especially when it comes to His people.
Now, we really shouldn't base the relationship that God has with us upon how we happen to feel at any particular time. Nor should we simply discard the emotional center we have as humans simply because they cannot "prove" things, perhaps other than conviction. To say either of these has no importance is to downplay the way that God has made us.
Oh, men, by the way, that goes for us, too. So remember that next time someone tells you that it's not manly to be overly moved by something, or even moved to tears. If Jesus is unashamed to do it, then you really don't have to worry about it, either.
We live in a manly world, in many ways. We hear good manly sayings, such as "Never let them see you sweat" or "Never let them see you cry." It's just not manly if you cry, or if you admit to pain, or if you let others see that something is bothering you.
Stupid, isn't it? You can see in the verse just above that Jesus, who is the epitome of what it means to be truly human, but also truly a man, well, in the verse above, what does Jesus do? He is moved, moved very deeply in his spirit. He is greatly troubled. In fact, just two verses later, we have one of the shortest verses in the Bible, which simply says, "Jesus wept."
If Jesus, who is truly and completely the definition of what it means to be human, cries and is deeply moved, then why do we tend to think that such things aren't manly?
Now, I admit that I have a bit of a bias in this. It's a well-known fact that, when I face meaningful moments in life, tears come rather easily to my eyes. I have led many confirmation classes, and inevitably, on their confirmation day, I will cry. It's even gotten to the point that the class will ask me ahead of time if I'm going to cry. I really have no shame in telling them that I will, since I invest so much of myself into their lives and spiritual formation.
For some reason, though, we have a tendency to downplay the role of those deep, primal emotions and feelings when it comes to our faith. We seem to have fallen into the more scientific mindset, that you must be objective and dispassionate when it comes to describing your faith. If you get too caught up, or are too deeply moved or inspired, well, you are often seen as a bit of a nutcase, who is overly reliant upon your emotions than upon your rational thoughts.
And yet, take a good, long look at God. God is one who is hardly objective in how He views His people. He calls Himself jealous when they go looking for other gods. He calls Himself their husband, in which case, you would hope that He's not objective and dispassionate about us. As we see in Jesus, He's deeply moved, and greatly troubled that we face such pain and suffering in our lives. God is hardly a rational, objective God, especially when it comes to His people.
Now, we really shouldn't base the relationship that God has with us upon how we happen to feel at any particular time. Nor should we simply discard the emotional center we have as humans simply because they cannot "prove" things, perhaps other than conviction. To say either of these has no importance is to downplay the way that God has made us.
Oh, men, by the way, that goes for us, too. So remember that next time someone tells you that it's not manly to be overly moved by something, or even moved to tears. If Jesus is unashamed to do it, then you really don't have to worry about it, either.
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