What Moves You?

By: Bentley Hill

Have you ever noticed that most of us don’t like to cry? We bite our lip or cover our face so we can hold it back or hide it. Why do we do this? Perhaps it is because we see crying as a sign of weakness, but is it really a weakness?

Jesus is the strongest man I know, and He shed a few tears according to Scripture. Luke 19:41-44 reads, “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’”

Jesus is crying because judgment is coming to the people of Israel and destruction is coming to the city of Jerusalem. Israel missed their moment. Verse 44 tells us they “did not know the time of [their] visitation.” The people of Israel had been given the message of peace, but they chose not to heed it. Jesus is not mad because the people ignored the message; He hurts for them. Today, it is easy to get mad at those who ignore God’s message of peace, but Jesus gives us a good example of how their hard heartedness should move us to tears.

It might be good to pause for a moment and ask ourselves what moves us to tears. Does the lostness around us move us, or are we stuck in the land of complacency, not caring what happens to those around us? I know we can’t walk around crying all day long, but if we never shed a tear, maybe we need to ask God to soften our hearts. Crying is not always a sign of weakness; sometimes it is a sign of compassion, and that is never out of style.