Tears and Gentle Kindness
Scripture Reading — Matthew 5:4-5
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
Mourning is a blessing? Meekness is a blessing? Wouldn’t life be happier if we could avoid mourning and meekness? Well, no. Two of the strongest toxins in our hearts are the urge to pass judgment on others and the drive to control others.
Jesus invites us to put those toxins to death through mourning and being meek. Do you see brokenness, struggle, and messiness in people’s lives? Does that activate your judgment trigger? Try mourning instead, says Jesus; sit by someone who is hurting, and weep with them. Judgment isolates and excludes. Mourning together can build a deep, spiritual bond. “Mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). If you can recall a time when someone wept with you, you know it was a beautiful gift.
Do you see someone acting in ways that don’t fit your agenda, and do you feel a desire to control them? Let it go, says Jesus; walk with them in a way that is meek: gentle, patient, and kind.
Years ago I met a woman consumed with anger for God and his people. One night she surrendered her life to Christ, and I asked her the next day what had happened. “Someone I had not met before pulled my entire life story out of me,” she said, “And when I was done, I began to weep.” That person wept with her and invited her to ask Jesus into her heart.
That’s the power of tears shed in meekness. What a blessing!
Lord, thank you for the gifts of shared tears and meekness. Cleanse me of sinful anger and power-hungers, that I may help to bless others. Amen.
About the author — Syd Hielema
Syd Hielema serves the Christian Reformed Church in North America as director of a ministry project called Connections II. He has also served with Faith Formation Ministries, as a professor of theology and youth ministry at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, and as a chaplain and professor at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario. Syd has been married to Evelyn for 43 years, and they enjoy bird watching near their home in Ancaster.
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