It is sad to see the things I’ve seen this year-everything from people on their death beds, dirty with flies on them, and all the family just wishing for their death because they don’t want to take care of them any longer, to men searching for any and every wife they can get, to abandoned children left naked in the dirt, to thousands of starving animals roaming the streets. It’s sad. It’s really very sad. And, it seems that no matter where I am in this world there is a constant battle taking place. It, no doubt, is spiritual. Many people just do not realize that it’s a realm that comes completely from above and below this earth. I keep telling myself what I know-that Jesus is the victor in this story. He always has been. He always will be. Jesus’ death on the cross was a fight for this world. He could have come down from the cross and proven Himself strong in the moment. Instead, He allowed himself to look weak because he knew that one day, thousands of years from then, that a lady on her death bed in Peru and that an abandoned child in Africa would need salvation. But, the fact that Jesus is the victor in the end doesn’t dismiss me from fighting on His side right now, and fighting hard. Although, we cannot see or understand all that He is doing in this world right now, I know He is fighting for each and every person. So much so that He would use His pocket change (which is a whole lot to me) to send me to these places. The Great Commision is a part of His fight. It hasn’t expired! I believe that Jesus has allowed me to see and feel just a pinch of his broken heart for this world. He has allowed me to spend hours and hours each day pouring out prayers for countries filled with false religions and hopelessness.
It breaks my heart to walk into a bar in Thailand to build relationships with the bar girls and out of the corner of my eyes see a four year old drinking alcohol. It breaks my heart to walk into a fitness gym and meet a young girl who is made to spend hours working out every day by her boyfriend. It breaks my heart to have to shove HIV medications down a twenty-three year old mother’s mouth because she refuses to take them herself…she thinks she has nothing to live for anymore. It breaks my heart to be in a country where everyone claims to be muslim yet they don’t even know a thing about what they claim to believe. It breaks my heart to see people walk down an isle of offering plates and tithe to hundreds of different Buddhist gods. It breaks my heart to see Americans spend millions of dollars on Christmas each year and forget the true reason of celebration. It breaks my heart that so many Christians are so blind to the need for fighting for these people. Have we simply given up because it’s too hard, too sad to see? Is it out of our comfort zones to reach out to these people? Have we pushed off the responsibility to others? Have we forgotten that Christ died so that broken people all around the world would have a chance? And does it every occur to us that we are the ones who can show people that because of that there is hope? What breaks my heart is what breaks His heart. I’ve made that my prayer. Jesus, Break my heart for what breaks yours. Give me compassion. Overwhelm me with tears for this world. Make my motives and my heart pure. Take away all my selfishness so I can be more like you. Help me to never forget, to speak for those who are silenced, to get out of my bubble and all that is comfortable, to give more than I have to give, to walk into places that will have others question my reputation because that is what you did, to always forgive, to accept grace, and to love the people who are hardest to love. Help me to never stop fighting for You, for what breaks your heart.
