As a former career police officer/administrator and current church leader, I have been present on numerous occasions when a man has been brought to tears—due to joy, pain, sorrow, or stress.  Men who shed tears often apologize.  My standard response is, “Don’t ever be ashamed of being human.”

Men who cry are in good company. Following the death of his friend Lazarus, Jesus wept (John 11:35).  Jeremiah was known as “the weeping prophet” over the sins of his people.  Peter wept after denying Jesus.  David wept for a lost son and in distress many times in his psalms. In Romans 9, Paul expressed “a huge sorrow” for his people.  In fact, Paul is a great case study for being human.

Because of his blinding (and then sight-recovering) conversion experience, many tend to think Paul’s broader life experience also changed like “flipping a light switch.”  Yet a human does not go from a vicious persecutor and murderer to apostle and author of nearly half of the New Testament without a process of progress.

In Romans 7:15, Paul writes “In fact, I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do what I know is right. I do the things I hate.”  Christians have been liberated from the penalty and power of sin, but we continue to live in the presence of sin. As a result, there is an internal battle between our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit.  The battle rages on…because we are human.  Seems we are all in a process of progress.

Yet, in being human (and made in the image of God), we have great capacity in that process—for growth, service, love, compassion, and emotion (even tears).  Jesus knows firsthand how great it is to be human—and he thinks we are terrific.  He might even say we are “to die for.”