Crying and 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.  In Hebrews 5, the Hebrew writer begins describing why Jesus was and is the perfect High Priest.  The entire description encompasses Hebrews 5:1-14 but 3 of the most notable characteristics of Christ as our perfect High Priest are found in Hebrews 5:7-9.  We will look at these characteristics one by one over the next three nights.  But today we learn that Jesus is the perfect High Priest because of His piety and His piety was noted through His crying and tears. 

Crying and tears.  Consider the image above, a soldier crying. I can't say what he is crying over but my guess would be the loss of one of his fellow soldiers.  Whatever is going on in his mind, it is being expressed through crying and tears. 

Crying and tears.  I used to think the only recorded instance of Jesus crying was in the gospel of John where a verse containing only two words is found yet it is packed with so much power, John 11:35 "Jesus wept." But then I came across this passage in Hebrews 5:7. We see evidence that Jesus prayed through crying and tears combined with piety or the fear of God. 

Crying and tears.  Ever prayed this way before? Has your heart just been so riddled with emotion that when you go to God in prayer, that you just breakdown and cry? 

Crying and tears.  I must admit the times I have had this experience in prayer, I can only count on one hand but those very few times have been some of my most intimate moments with the Lord. 

Crying and tears.  I don't know about you but quite honestly I am one that tends to put up emotional walls with people.  Only a small handful of people have ever seen me cry. But God, He has seen every tear I have ever shed and it's then that I think of passages like this and it makes me realize how much Christ loves all of us, that He cried for us.

Crying and tears.  I don't know what's going on in your life and believe me I understand if you can't let your guard down enough to cry over whatever issue it might be in front of another person.  But something I strongly encourage you to do is if there is something weighing heavy on your heart, do not be afraid to cry in front of our Lord Jesus. 

Crying and tears. We can look to Christ for the strength we need because He is stronger than ANYTHING we will ever encounter. But honestly, it's when I see Christ in His moments of weakness in the Scriptures such as in John 11:35 that make me realize Christ really does know what you and I go through when we are hurting.  Christ had the fear of God as well and He knew God and God alone was the only one that could pull Him through the pain and agony of the cross.  And it was done through crying and tears. 

Crying and tears.  So my encouragement to you is this, if there is something weighing heavy on your heart tonight, go somewhere where you can be by yourself and pour your heart out to the Lord and do not be afraid to cry in front of Him at the throne of grace and if you need to, seek out someone you can trust and let them help you carry your burden.  On the flipside, if you know someone is hurting, help them carry their burden, if necessary do so through crying and tears.  Finally, realize Christ knows your pains and your hurts and never forget John 11:35, "Jesus wept."  Will we have such piety as did Christ? 

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!