With the movie “Braveheart”, the book “Wild at Heart”, and other names like “lion-hearted”, I often wish these names would apply to me. What I usually think is that I am a stoneheart. I have trouble connecting and feeling other people’s pain. Compassion. That is not one of my “gifts”, Linnea is incredibly compassionate. Her eyes fill with tears as she empathizes with another person’s pain. I usually just think “suck it up”. Ever hear this one- “I’ll give you something to cry about!”?
Well, I will. I will give you something to cry about.
I have been praying for God to soften my heart, even had the courage (once?) to ask Him to break my heart. To break me. Make me usable. I have prayed that God would remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) That my heart would break for what God’s heart breaks for. That when someone listens to my heart they hear the heart beat of Jesus, God’s heart in my chest. My heart usually breaks over my own pains and wounds, so I tell myself to suck it up. Sometimes I think God’s heart should break for me, driving my 95 Ford Escort (till death do us part), that God should ‘bless’ me with something more like a Mercedes or a BMW. (I still wouldn’t keep it clean though)
What does God’s heart break for? I am reading a book, “Fields of the Fatherless”, written by C. Thomas Davis (check out his blog), in it he says God’s heart is for orphans, widows, and strangers (aliens). [I won’t talk about our immigration debate, our ‘compassionate conservatives’, like we don’t have enough to share. (I won’t go there)]
Check out some of these verses- Deut. 10:17-18; 14:28-29; 24:19-21; Proverbs 23:10-11; and James 1:27. It is obvious what God’s heart breaks for. WIDOWS, ORPHANS (THE FATHERLESS), STRANGERS (ALIENS, EVEN ILLEGALS!) REFUGEES (DID YOU KNOW JESUS WAS A REFUGEE?)
Today, with our high school group we watched “invisible children”, www.invisiblechildren.com, check it out, if that doesn’t break your heart I am not sure what will.
It shows what is happening in Uganda. The child soldiers, abductions, kids hiding under buildings, living in fear. I did not see one kid that had an ipod in his ear, living on Ritalin and antidepressants, wondering why life is so bad, as he wolfs down another bag of cheezy poofs. It is not either kid’s fault, the culture we were born into.
When will my heart break for this generation? In this country and around the world?
