by RobertCummins | Nov 11, 2016 | 45. Tears
Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner. (Luke:36-50)
If Jesus were combative, He might have picked up the 2×4 of correction and said, “And if you were a true shepherd of Israel, you would know who I was and that it was precisely this sort of person I came for.” But Jesus knew a thousand well placed blows would not alter this Pharisee’s thinking. What is it about a religious spirit that causes such a total blackout of self awareness? How does it strip one of empathy and equip them to judge? Have you ever been guilty of this? I have.
Jesus: Simon, I have something to say to you.
Simon: Say it, Teacher.
I went through a season where Jesus had been saying, “Rob, I have something to say to you.” But I did not have ears to hear. For the record, the way God has most commonly spoken to me is over time and through process. A season of threadbare emotions led me to believe Jesus was trying to say something! The intensity of my inner storm suggested this something might be significant.
I had heard the voice of God through scripture. I had discerned it through circumstances and, on one occasion, even heard an hour’s worth, of inaudible, yet brilliantly clear words in my spirit. However, on this occasion, I was about to hear God speak through others. First, there was the doctor who asked me, “Mr. Cummins, did you know your life is being driven by anger?” My response; “What?“ Then there was the prophetic guy who told me, “You are filled with religion, aren’t you?” My response; “What?” Finally there was the counselor who said, “You really do not know who you are, do you?” I was at the end of myself. My response; “No, apparently I am clueless.” It was at this point in the process that my heart said, “Go ahead Teacher. Please, just say it.”
It would be nice if we could hear Jesus just saying it earlier, sparing everyone the wear and tear. But that would preclude process, and Jesus, I have learned, is keen on process. In a life He is transforming into the image of His Son, the heart is both the battleground and the Promised Land. For our heart’s sake (and Christ’s), He uses process to enable us to see and take ownership of that which inhibits intimacy—God’s supreme objective. For some (like me), just hearing and presumably obeying, would shortchange the opportunity we have, in process, to know Him and His ways. I didn’t understand what the doctor, the prophet or the counselor was saying. I just held those odd words in my heart, wondering if they would ever make sense.
I have told the story elsewhere of The Great Loader Bucket Incident—one of the events the Lord arranged to show me my heart. The scene was no less a spectacle than Simon and the Sinful Woman, except that hers was admirable. Mine was absolutely deplorable. While tears of repentance streamed from this broken woman’s eyes, oaths and curses spewed from my angry and indignant heart, directed at a well-meaning and undeserving friend. As the mushroom cloud faded, my heart eventually said, “Oh Father! Now I see what You mean. I am angry and religious. Please keep speaking. You have my full attention. This is going to hurt isn’t it?”
Some will read this and think, “Poor chap. All his reading has driven him mad.” Others understand and are still asking the question: “How do I distinguish between judgment and discernment? Between a critical self-righteous spirit and an honest, Spirit-led one?” Again: What is it about a religious spirit that causes such a blackout of self-awareness? How does it strip one of empathy and equip them to judge?
In a sense I am exposing the religious spirit in each MwM post. I have to. The Lord exposed it in me. It’s my story. However, a condensed response would be that, in my sin, like Adam, I had fashioned my own fig leaf of a belief system, which protected me from prolonged exposure to God, others, and myself. From my hiding places, I had learned to live in compliance to religious standards, being driven by the fear of my insecure heart. And, most impressively, I had done it all in Jesus’ name with scriptural support! These are the types of things I learned over time and through process. These are the things I believe God has spoken to me.
I entered this season discouraged because I did not hear my Father’s voice. I exited it knowing He had been speaking all along. That was huge because, in the culture I came from, God delivered important words by important people in concise sentences with thus-sayeth-Himself unction. I exited this season of process having encountered God. I had asked the teacher to say it and He had.
The fruit of this encounter has been revolutionary. I am far less inclined to label someone as a this or a that. I am also more inclined to empathize, knowing this or that person’s plight, like mine is Garden-variety sin and religion. Jesus’ words and my experience concur—the bonds of deceit are tighter with religion than sin because an outer religious life is in compliance while the heart (where life originates) is filled with dead men’s bones. Religion is extra deceitful because it serves as an institutionally approved substitute for authentic relationship with God.
“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” (Luke 7:41-43)
There are many among us who have asked Jesus into our hearts. Upon asking, some of us knew our debt was at least 500 denarii. Others prayed the prayer, thinking theirs was about five. Since empathy is realized and tears are spilled proportional to perceived debt, my prayer for us all is:
Father, help us to understand we are all in the “500 Plus” club and that any tendency to pick up a stone, as opposed to shedding a tear, keeps our hearts aloof from You and others. In Your kindness, show us how deeply indebted we are to You and to others. Show us our qualifications as the chiefs of sinners who, by Your great mercies, have been enabled to stand with boldness and joy in Your most holy presence. May we live the balance of our days repaying to both the deserving and undeserving, and especially to You, our indebtedness of love. Amen
by RobertCummins | Nov 10, 2016 | 45. Tears
In the days of His flesh He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. (Hebrews 5:7)
What accounted for Jesus’ emotional intensity? Even though He asked if it might be avoided, His personal suffering was not the heaviest thing on His heart; it was ours. He knew we had been ravaged. He longed to deliver captives from the killing burdens of sin and religion. He saw how disease wracked men with pain, ultimately claiming their bodies. He also knew either eternal glory or catastrophe awaited every soul.
Rolling toward Him in Gethsemane, Jesus saw a wave, accumulating all the horror and filth of sin, past, present and future. He knew this tsunami was headed straight for Him and that He would be crushed by it. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)
Jesus knew the more you see, the more you will need to cry. He grants that some will share His burden and know His tears. Even with darkness in view, He wants them to see the superiority of Light. He is the Light of this world. We are His children!
For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:5)
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10)
That God’s children have not been exempt from suffering is a mystery. Instead we are called to endure it and learn from it. It is not meant to crush us as it did Him. It is meant to draw us to Him and to teach us to abide in Him. If He permits us to know the suffering of clear vision, He knows we cannot carry it alone. He desires we live in a state of continual dependency upon Him, always casting our burdens back upon Him.
Father, in these brief days of our flesh, may we see and may we offer up, with passionate tears, our prayers and petitions to You – the One who has saved us from death, knowing that we have been heard because of Your piety. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 9, 2016 | 45. Tears
By combining a few thoughts from Paul and one from Solomon, I conclude …
There is a time for time’s fulness and it is now. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 & 2 Corinthians 6:2)
In today’s passage, time is just about full. It is the most intimate of moments. Jesus has invited Peter, James and John to come deeper into the garden with Him. As far as we know, He simply desired their company and support. He made a point to tell them how they should compose themselves in the fulness of time. He takes His intimate friends aside and confides …
My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death, remain here and keep watch with me. (Matthew 26:38)
That God is willing to reveal His deepest emotions to man should awaken us to the type of relationship He desires with us. However, as Jesus is pouring His heart out – the disciples were snoring!
Jesus : Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
Man: Yawn
Even among His friends, sleep is apparently a chronic problem. At the most important moment they succumb to the temptation three times! Finally, their opportunity to respond passes and Jesus wakes them, saying …
The hour has come and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
I do not fear God’s wrath. I am confident it was absorbed in Christ on the the cross. I do tremble a bit though, knowing I too am capable of being asleep in the fulness of time – squandering my opportunity to keep watch with Him, wasting my invitation into greater depths of intimacy. Jesus knows sleep is a formidable enemy. He tells us …
Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. (Matthew 26:45)
This verse and the words that follow, speak directly to the critical nature of time and how we steward it. This will not effect our salvation but it is definitely going to affect our reward. That is sobering! Whether its in this body or the next one …
Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. (Matt 24:46-47)
Scripture warns us, eyes heavy with sleep, will be a sign the times are once again full. Jesus is still inviting us to stand with Him and keep watch. A frightening number of us sleep even now, having given ourselves over to the worries of this world, driven to a frenzied pace by technology, consumed in our vocations and vacations – deluded in our perceived need for more. Listen to Paul …
Awake, sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ”. (Ephesians 5:14-21)
The Blue Book is one of the Lord’s standing invitations to keep watch and abide in intimacy. Jesus is still saying, “Remain with me a while. Be awake and watchful over your heart because times are growing more full by the day. Again, I don’t fear judgement. I do acknowledge, with sobriety, that my choices matter and, that at some point, our exclusive opportunities to love, will be no more. Today is the day of salvation.
Father, help us to hear Your invitation. Help us to slow down and listen to Your heart and ours. Help us to make the choices wise stewards make. Help us to grasp the greater intimacy, opportunity and reward at hand. That we would be those with whom You would share your heart’s burdens. Amen
by RobertCummins | Nov 8, 2016 | 45. Tears
Where do our tears come from? According to scripture, only God and His image bearers weep: we can cry because we were created in His image. This is, in part, what distinguishes us from beasts. I am curious if evolutionary research has discovered that before Cro-Magnon there was Cry-Magnon man? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Back to business.
We are all familiar with what causes our tears. Some of them come as we are surprised by something pure and beautiful or we are moved by an act of love or kindness. Some tears are joyful, but I suspect that God, who collects them, would confirm a disproportionate number of sorrowful tears to joyful. We know why we cry, but what brings tears to God’s eyes? I believe His role as a parent is the sources of His sorrow. “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem!”
Jesus laments over a people created for relationship who instead spurned every overture of His love. The consuming fires of holiness and righteousness surely reside in God’s nature yet there is also a heart that is bound up, in love, with a people who are (at least for a time) hell-bent on rejecting him.
This passage reveals there are ultimate consequences to rejecting the love of God: “Behold, your house is being left desolate!” The temple was razed within 40 years of this statement. Jesus then bid His people a farewell until another day when their hearts would return to Him saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” The absence of God coincided with the sudden decimation of Jerusalem. I have wondered if the gradual erosion of America does not also coincide with God’s absence. Since we are systematically evicting him out of one arena of life after another, perhaps our nation is experiencing judgment as well. Unlike the visible plagues on Egypt, God’s agents of justice may be ten-fold and internal to our culture. Like Israel, God loves us but a parent must discipline His children. Being holy and a parent surely has brought a flood of God’s tears. I wonder if He laughs or cries at Fox and CNN.
Father, may your discipline be recognized for what it is, wherever it is. May our hearts learn wisdom from it. May we grasp that Your heart is to gather and to protect those You love. May we grieve over the things that grieve You. May our sorrow evolve into petitions. May we be the generation who recognizes and listens to your prophets. May we be a generation who recognizes Your overtures of love, even those embedded in discipline. May we come to our knees voluntarily. We pray that not one of Your tears be wept in vain. Let this be Lord. Please let this be.
by RobertCummins | Nov 7, 2016 | 45. Tears
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. (Psalm 42:7)
The scriptures self proclaim their inspiration. This doesn’t mean that they are merely uplifting. Inspiration means God breathed, which implies there is more than just a credible history of God in scripture. This means the scriptures are coded with God’s DNA and must be compatible with us, who were made into God’s image and also animated by God’s breath. At some level we have a deep affinity with God’s Word. The depths of God’s Word call unto our own depths. God’s Word can awaken eternal realities within us. If we will look, we will find ourselves in the scriptures. That should be an adequate primer for our pop quiz: Which of the following descriptor(s) of God is the least compatible with the others? God is: a) omniscient b) omnipotent c) holy d) omnipresent e) emotional or d) sovereign? If you chose “e,” you are in good company.
How conscious are we that the God who spoke galaxies into existence also has feelings? If God has emotions, what are they and what triggers them?
As He entered Bethany, Jesus was met by some who believed He was the Messiah and by others who did not. Sadly though, both groups were of the opinion that the One who could have done something about this tragedy hadn’t. This only added to the pain of His followers. Is this sounding familiar? The tears of believers can double in volume since their God, who can prevent the pain, often doesn’t. When this happens, our only consolation is that: “Jesus wept.”
While it is short, this sentence reveals that our God weeps with us, making it one of the most powerful of all revelations about Him. What disturbed Jesus so deeply, eventually causing Him to cry was His acute awareness that our incomplete understanding of Him often adds to our sorrow. He had come to earth to present good news—not to add sorrow upon sorrow. I think it grieves God when we feel He has shorted us in any way. He surely understands, but I believe it still troubles Him (for our sake) when we perceive Him as “late” or as a “no-show.” That Jesus is “a Man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief,” endears Him to me as much as any other truth about Him.
This story gives me hope in another way. It reveals that God can also surprise us by being ahead of our expectations. The sisters didn’t anticipate seeing their brother again until Resurrection Day. Instead they witnessed a miracle and saw their brother within the hour.
I think I do better in my walk of faith when I keep some of the larger timing issues in perspective, such as: 1) The days I will live on earth are numbered; the ones I will live in heaven are not. 2) I ultimately have no control over time, so I need to steward it very responsibly and very open-handedly. 3) While there will be a Resurrection Day, today, regardless of my perception, is the day of salvation—forgiveness, healing, and deliverance.
Lord, that You have wept for us adds a new dimension of Your compassions, which are fresh each morning and will never fail. Amen.
