It always troubles me when I hear Christians say "God isn't moved by your tears. God doesn't react to tears. He only reacts to faith." I'm not sure about that. First because I tend not to accept any trope or theological doctrine simply because it's trending in the christian world. Second because some folks treat faith like works. "Having faith" is something folks work at or can boast of having. But primarily because the Bible says so often that Christ had compassion and healed people. Or that God sees our tears. True, sometimes some folks were healed by their faith, but others were healed because Jesus had compassion on them. Personally, I think so many physical illnesses are rooted in the feeling of feeling/being unloved. It seems to me the height of holiness to heal someone else by compassion. Just my 0.02 cents.
Whether there are tears or not, if the heart is grieving there is a merciful compassionate God. IF someone has tears and has faith, that is good. IF someone has tears and has no faith, God sees their heart and it is God to decide not some cold theology that takes away his mercy. If the Bible says at least five times that Jesus healed them because of his compassion, we have to be careful what we say to people. Unless JEsus has changed and his compassion no longer applies. IF Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever...then He heals today because of faith, because of compassion, because of faith and compassion. In my experience, I have seen so many people with great faith who were never healed. I've seen people with faith who were healed. I've seen people without faith who were healed. And I've seen people who had faith who were not healed until they realized God had compassion on them.
It's just silly unsubstatiated unBiblical theology I dislike. The Bible says it is the goodness of God that calls men to repentance. Many people are healed on the mission field by the mercy of God before they even have faith in Jesus.
I think what people miss is that God is a Person, a Being. He's not a computer which needs a series of buttons pushed in the right order. A Personal God can do whatever He wants and can make decisions that please him. Paul wrote that "Without faith it is impossible to please God." But Paul didn't say "without faith it is impossible to be healed." He wouldn't write that because that would totally go against the missionary healing ministry. I know some folks say that "Well, God is different on the mission field. He heals people to show the truth of the gospel. But He's different when you're in the church." But it seems weird to me that God should treat his own children like that. I really think that it's the flaky theology Christians get hammered into them that take away our faith in God's love, power, willingness, and ability to help us. And we have to keep our minds alert to the stuff that steals our faith. As Jesus said, "Take heed what you hear." As Paul said, "Be not conformed to the world but ye transformed by the renewing of your minds." And from what I've seen in Christian circles, there are some heavy-duty WRONG theological strongholds that make the words of God of none effect.
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