The Cleansing Tears of Grief

 

Stress will kill the human body. We allow so much stress into our daily life that we often end up on medication to heal the results of stress on our body and soul. It affects our cardiovascular, endocrine, psychological and immune systems—as well as most of the other organs in our body and our spiritual health. There are many proven healthy ways to deal with stress.

(See: http://www.charismamag.com/life/health/19047-how-to-deal-with-stress-god-s-way)

 

We have stress at work, home and sometimes even in our social life, which makes us sick in body and soul. Scientists and doctors agree that God designed our body to shed stress hormones when we cry. This helps to protect our brain and bodily organs. When we grieve our disappointments and losses, our tears cleanse our soul, but they also help our body.

 

After times of tears, our heart rate and our breathing grow calmer. Tears also produce endorphins, which improve our emotional well-being. Allow your soul to grieve to the extent, and for as long as it needs to, in order to gain relief from your loss. Grief only affects us negatively, when we allow it to take over our life, to exclude us from healthy activities and to closet us from life.

 

Tears will also alert those around us that we are hurting. These people usually respond with kindness and concern, and they benefit us physically and emotionally as well. Grief can strengthen our connections with family, friends and even perfect strangers who stop to show they care. Therefore, do not hold back your tears; let them flow.

 

God uses our afflictions to purify us, to teach us patience and to help us to learn to take authority over the devil (James 1:5). He also uses our grief to cleanse us of inordinate affections and idols, which are deeply rooted in our life. God always brings comfort to us in our sorrows, through other people and by His Holy Spirit. God uses grief to restore our soul to health (Psalm 23:3).

 

God strengthens us through our night of grief, and brings us joy in the morning (Psalm 30:5). He is our ever-present help in times of trouble (Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 46:1-2). As we grieve through our sorrow, its strength dissipates and our soul feels freer. We not only grieve the loss of people and pets, but also treasured objects that were ripped from our grasp unexpectedly. If we do not allow our soul to grieve these losses, we carry that pain with us all of our life.

 

Prayer:

Father God, we often hold on to our grief, because it brings us comfort in some distorted way. We do not realize that grieving through our loss is much healthier for us. Give to all of those who grieve the comfort, which only You can supply; Your deep, internal comfort, which changes our focus and attitude about our circumstances. Thank You also for the Body of Christ, which supports us in our times of sorrow.

 

Thought for the Day:
Blessed are those who mourn, for God will comfort them.

– Matthew 5:4

 

Formula For Success

Read: Matthew 25:40-45

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." - Luke 6:38

In today’s society many people want to know, “What’s in it for me?” Their carnal desires fuel their actions to attain anything that will provide them with the best possible advantage. They constantly seek an angle that gives them an edge over the next guy. Then they stab one another in the back to get ahead.

God gave us a much simpler formula for success. Rather than to amass the treasures of this world, He suggests that we give them away! He promises that if we do, we will receive with the same measure for which we give to others who have legitimate needs (Luke 6:38). If we use a teaspoon to measure our giving, we will reap a teaspoon of rewards. If we use a ton, we will reap a ton of blessings. We cannot fail when we live according to God’s principles.

Hospitality is part of God’s plan for our success. He is not asking us to rescue people who are lazy or to enable those who live in a habitual state of irresponsibility and unreliability. However, He does promise to greet us as blessed children and to give us the inheritance of His Kingdom if we treat others as if He is the one in need.

He calls us to feed the hungry, to provide for those without material possessions, to give a drink to the thirsty, to visit the sick and imprisoned, and to take care of strangers because we may be entertaining and angel without even knowing it (Matthew 25:40-45; Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus exhorts us to invite others to dinner without concern for their social status (1 Corinthians 12:23). He says that as we give hospitality to others, we are doing it for Him. He reminds us that the reason we receive this world’s goods is in order to be good stewards over them and to share them with others (1 Peter 4:10).

1 Kings 17:12-16 contains one of my favorite Bible lessons. The widow goes to the prophet for help and he asks her to bake him some bread with her remaining supplies. Rather than stingily hoarding her meager commodities, she liberally uses them all up to provide for the Lord’s prophet. In return, “she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry.” As we liberally give from whatever God gives to us, we too find everything necessary to meet all of our needs.

Compassion is the next tool in God’s plan for our success. The language of love always triumphs over greed. Jesus exemplifies what it means to show compassion. Repeatedly the gospels record that “He was moved with compassion.” Jesus’ compassion eventually led Him to His dreadful death by a Roman crucifixion.

God knows our frail humanity and views our weaknesses with compassion (Psalm 145:8-9). Peter exhorts us in his epistle to have compassion for one another, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but blessing others so that we may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:8-10).

Prayer:

Father God, as we show hospitality and compassion to others, You promise to shower us with material and spiritual blessings. You exhort us to use the abundance You give to us as faithful stewards. You also give us strength of character to help us to make our place in the world a better place in which to live. Your most important gift to us is the gospel story of salvation through Jesus Christ. You desire that we share this gift with everyone You bring our way, so that You can revitalize every life that hears and believes Your gospel message.

Thought for the Day:

We reap what we sow. – Galatians 6:7-9