The Currency of Heaven

A COMMUNITY OF TEARS 

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8 NLT). 

That verse has always intrigued me. I always thought it strange as to why God would save my tears. Really, you only save something that has value. So what value would your tears have in God’s eyes? 

Well, tears reflect how we feel, and at times they are a release valve to allay the pain and suffering we encounter in a world filled with brokenness. They act as a catharsis to cleanse our hearts during periods of grief and soften the hard ground of cynicism that tends to shut out people from expressions of love. A flood of tears will often wash away walls we build around ourselves to keep out those with whom God directs us to share life. As such, tears act as a pathway into the life of community. 

In a real sense, tears are a currency of heaven. That’s their value. 

This is why I believe Scripture says they are saved and stored. God will use them as investments on our behalf to establish our humanity. And that is something God desires for everyone. 

You can’t have true community without establishing an ongoing, intimate connection between yourself and others. To be truly human, you have to feel others’ pain, share their laughter, sense their joy, and experience their grief. The intersection of yourself with others and all the emotional things that happen when connections are established are one of the unique traits of being fully human. 

Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus as a way to express His humanity. He understood that intersection with another individual in the context of sharing life together is one of the most human things you can do. Humanity is best exhibited as we share life with others—sharing experiences, sharing meals, and ultimately sharing ourselves. I cannot give myself to others unless they can look into my eyes, listen to my voice, hear my heart, hold my hand, and experience my joy and pain and vice versa. 

One of the great downsides of trying to achieve community online is that I rarely can get to the point in a relationship that realizes the emotional and spiritual attachment as described above. I am more prone to shed tears over someone when I have established an intimacy with them. That’s the essence of love. The connection we establish with others, so we feel with them, believe in them, sacrifice for them, and share dreams and visions with them. The degree to which we establish these kinds of connections with others is commensurate with the love we have for them. We cry more easily when we are running on all these cylinders. 

That’s why God saves these tears. They are evidences of how we have understood His command to love one another and share our lives together. Our tears testify to God’s heart for His creation through us. 

I firmly believe that our humanity is not primarily social; it’s spiritual. And one of the greatest barometers of that spiritual life is our ability to weep. It goes beyond what is seen to what is felt. Simply, I believe tears are also the emotional language of the soul. Our weeping brings heavenly dividends that increase through our shedding of more tears. They are bankable in the economy of the kingdom of God. 

To achieve the true humanity you seek, unfriend the lie of long-distance community that elevates detachment from others as a viable way to establish relationships.