“I can’t wait to get my heart broken again!” Said nobody. Ever.
If I heard someone say that, I would think they were crazy! Wouldn’t you? We avoid heartbreak. Put up boundaries. Run away from toxic people. We do anything and everything necessary to prevent a broken heart.
Why? Because it hurts. Hello! Yet in God, heartbreak is a necessary component to practical Christian living.
Whenever crowds came to Him, He had compassion for them because they were so deeply distraught, malaised, and heart-broken. They seemed to Him like lost sheep without a shepherd. Jesus understood what an awesome task was before Him, so He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-38)
Jesus saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion.
When are we normally moved with compassion for someone? When we see them thriving and prospering? When we see everything going fantastic in their lives? Or is it when we see them going through a struggle and it breaks our heart?
Jesus saw the multitudes. And He was moved with compassion. He didn’t just see their physical bodies. He saw into their souls. He saw their distress. Their heartbreak. Their oppression. He saw how lost they were.
Lord, open our eyes to really see the people around us everyday. Help us see them the way you see them.
Jesus let it break His heart.
He let it touch Him.
He let it move him.
Do we? Do we look around us at those who are sick and depressed and broken and hurting and let it break our hearts in two? Do we let it pierce us in the recesses of our souls?
Usually not. And there are so many reasons why.
We’re busy, so we walk through life with blinders on lest it topple our apple cart and throw us off an already tight schedule. We simply don’t have time to be moved with compassion.
But mostly it’s because we feel helpless. “What can I do to help? I can’t fix it for them so I feel helpless.” And helpless is not an emotion we’re comfortable with, so it’s better to move on.
Because we feel like we can’t do everything we walk by and do nothing. We guard our heart against feeling anything and keep moving.
But that’s a lie. “I can’t do anything!” It’s a lie.
We can all do something. In fact, we can do what Jesus said to do.
He saw the multitudes, let it break His heart, turned to His disciples and said, “Pray!”
Since when is praying doing nothing? If we start to think that prayer isn’t enough, we need to change our perspective on prayer. Prayer releases the unlimited power and resources of God into this earth. I’d say that’s something.
Prayer is something. It’s the main thing. It’s the most important thing.
We don’t pray for rain in the middle of a flood. I doubt Noah ever prayed for it in those 40 days and nights the earth was flooding. No. We pray for rain when we feel the pain of drought.
Let’s take the blinders off. Let’s look around us and really see the multitudes. Really see the lost. The broken. The dying. The hurting and depressed.
Let’s really see them and let it break our hearts. Feel their pain. Be moved with compassion. God uses compassion to motivate us to action.
Let’s open our hearts and feel it today. Let it motivate us to pray and watch what God does.