God! Break My Heart

From my privileged place, in my comfortable warm home where the water is clean and plentiful, the food rich and nourishing, in my social position which enjoys an abundance of friends and family- it quite easy to close my eyes to suffering. The plight of that widow in Uganda who is trying to raise five little children on a couple of dollars a day in a country where abuse, physical and sexual, is more common than not, can disturb me if I let a picture of her hard life stay in my mind. It’s hard to think about those refugees of Syria, people who are surviving in dirty, crowded camps with no future prospect of return to their homes. A lot closer to home there are elderly people without family, who are so lonely, so afraid of the days ahead. Their sad faces make me troubled! The list of suffering lengthens when you take in families struggling with an addict, those who are trying to recover from great loss, those who are desperate in a terrible relationship with no way out …

I admit that I am tempted to ease the concern with superficial prayer for those in need – Lord, bless the hurting.  Amen – as if that alone is the answer. But, the words that I read in my Genesis meditation this morning are like a slap in the face. Cain, when asked by the Lord where his brother was, the very brother he had killed in jealousy, callously dismisses his responsibility.  "Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9, NIV)  

God is asking you- yes, He’s asking me - “Where is your brother?”  

We are fools to think that we can avoid feeling the hurt of the suffering, that we can live in our indulgence, and lay claim to a deep, saving relationship with Jesus Christ, the Lord of compassion.  James writes pointedly - "Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?" (James 2:14-17, The Message)

It's time we prayed, “Lord break my heart!” instead of our constant prayers for comfort and more blessings. I am not advocating misery for misery’s sake. I am pleading for us to become “Jesus with skin on” in this world;  people who are willing to serve the lost, the least, who are willing to lose sleep, to set aside our pleasures, to do the work of the Kingdom.  We cannot save the world but we can save those to whom the Spirit sends us.  We can feed an orphan. We can regularly visit our elderly neighbor. We can love our friend whose life is mess of dysfunction; listening, hoping, praying without superiority or judgment.  Because, we are our brother’s keeper!

“Lord, break my heart.” It is a dangerous, costly prayer.  When He answers, your life will change. You will be compelled to pursue Him, to love beyond words, to sacrifice. You will cry, your heart will ache, sleep may avoid you in the small hours of the morning.  Those who love like Jesus will dig deeper, pray longer, go farther, and reach higher. A broken heart will the mess of sin close, the stench of spiritual death into your life. The bloody wounds of those left for dead on life’s road will stain your hands with blood as you carry them to Him.

Not many of you are still reading, but if you are, I am praying for you, right now;  not for guilt, not for frustrated, momentary emotion, but for the beginning of a vision of what God, the Spirit, can do with your life when you offer it without any reservation to Him.

Jesus had an encounter with a man wondering about his social responsibility.  He wanted to know what God expected. Jesus asked him what the Scriptures taught him. ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:27-29, NIV)  It was another way of saying, “Am I my brothers’ keeper?”

Jesus told him about a man who needed someone to care who had been beaten up and abandoned to die on the road. Two religious people saw that bloody man and walked on, taken up with their own lives. One, a despised Samaritan, cared, beyond words! "He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him." (Luke 10:34, NIV)  

The word from the Word comes from the end of that story. “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” (Luke 10:36-37, NLT)

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Hosanna

(compassion begins with a renewed calling)

I see the King of glory

Coming on the clouds with fire

The whole earth shakes

The whole earth shakes yeah

I see His love and mercy

Washing over all our sin

The people sing

The people sing

Hosanna hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

Hosanna hosanna

Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation

Rising up to take their place

With selfless faith

With selfless faith

I see a near revival

Stirring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees

We're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

Brooke Ligertwood

© 2006 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

A great start on the new week

Thinking that life would be better - “If only I …” had a different job, were as smart as she is, lived in the city – is a thought that we all think, sometime, isn’t it? Following closely behind those thoughts are ones that tend to a sin that is subtle but destructive. What is that? Envy!

I enjoy using social media, keeping up with pictures of friends far and wide, knowing what they are doing, how life is treating them. Facebook, Instagram, and the rest can turn into the fertile soil in which discontent grows like a weed. When we see another’s recent pictures about their great vacation, another’s report of promotion, and another’s new-found success we can, and many people do, start to compare our supposedly dull lives to those exciting ones that ‘everyone but me’ seems to be living. Here is what I know for certain: envy is the mold of the soul. It flourishes in the dark, makes a toxic environment, and sickens us.

Cain hated his brother's righteousness, not because Abel had done a thing to him, but because Abel’s offering was one that was pleasing to the LORD.  The first book of the Bible says that "(Eve) gave birth to a second son and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a farmer. At harvesttime Cain brought to the Lord a gift of his farm produce, while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his offering, but he did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected." (Genesis 4:2-5, NLT)

The text leads me to conclude that Cain refused instruction, insisting on doing his own thing. When his willful choice was not met with God’s approval, instead of submitting himself to the Lord, he turned, in envy, on his brother. "Why are you so angry?" the Lord asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master." One day Cain suggested to his brother, "Let's go out into the fields." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him." (Genesis 4:6-8, NLT)

There is a place that we can find in God’s love that removes envy from our heart. It is called contentment. Contentment is borne of gratitude that rests on a solid foundation of faith. When envy starts to make an appearance, we must choose to begin to offer praise. At first it may a “sacrifice of praise,” but as we thank Him for Who He is, for His faithfulness to us, for the assurance that He provides all that we need for this day; we will find our soul resting in Him. Paul says, “I have learned to be content.” Yes, we must train ourselves, by prayer and thankfulness, to receive the provision of God for the day. The sinful nature will cause us to compare and then, largely, to complain.  When we whine about our lack, we cannot sing of our blessings.  

Christian, do you what to make a great start today, the first day of the new week?

I encourage you to create a praise list to accompany your prayer list.  Write down things, big and small, for which you are grateful. That will change your perspective and free the Spirit to create a new kind of joy. Few things cause more problems among Christians than the ancient sin of envy. It masquerades as self-righteousness, criticism, holier-than-thou attitudes; ugly, divisive things that will destroy our peace with God.

Meditate on this word from the Word. Let God settle your soul in contentment and go bless your world with His love!

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." (1 Timothy 6:6-11, NIV)

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10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)

(Matt Redman leads us to contentment

In this song of praise)

Bless the Lord O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

You're rich in love and You're slow to anger

Your name is great and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Worship Your holy name

Lord I'll worship Your holy name

Jonas Myrin | Matt Redman

© 2011 Atlas Mountain Songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

sixsteps Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

 

Ashamed and Alone

We are all familiar with two powerful emotions – guilt and shame. Guilt serves us well when we do wrong because it motivates us to seek change, to make things right. Shame, on the other hand, is generally a terribly destructive emotion that causes us to hide, to feel worthless. It can become a root cause of all kinds of self-destructive behaviors. Guilt says, “I did something wrong.” Shame says “There is something wrong with me.”

After the glorious story of God and Creation, Genesis shifts to failure, doubt, and disobedience. In a few lines, the inspired text provides deep insight for us about the human condition when sin comes to us.  "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3:7-10, NIV)

Adam and Eve, who enjoyed the love of their Creator and one another, who were innocent, made a choice to disobey and, in that moment, suddenly became vulnerable, self-aware, and guilty. Guilt morphed into shame and tragedy overtook them – ‘they hid from the Lord.’ The One with Whom they knew sweet fellowship became a fearful Presence to them. In language rich with symbolism, we are told that they ‘sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’  Their relationship, once open, is now complicated by covering. But, God is there!

This story lays the groundwork for the redemptive story that is revealed in the rest of the Bible. God does not abandon us to our shame, leaving us to struggle alone with our shame while we desperately try to keep all our fig leaves in place. He pursues us, loves us, and offers restoration of the life that sin stole from us. We devise all manner of mechanisms to try to regain what we know is lost - hard work, achievement, fancier ‘fig leaves,’ status, religiosity – to name a few.  Some of us just collapse under the weight of our sense of ‘wrongness’ and develop behaviors like addictions and compulsions in a downward spiral.  

The answer to our guilt is not shame, it is salvation!  He holds out the offer of reconciliation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ and invites us to accept what we cannot find anywhere else. Paul’s words are compelling.  In this world, where the sinful nature makes failure inevitable, there is this promise of healing.  "We all did … what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!" (Ephesians 2:3-8, The Message)

Are you living ashamed and alone?  

You can attempt to excuse yourself or explain away that which creates guilt. You can retreat into shame’s isolation but your conscience will not be easily stilled. Take your guilt to Him. Don’t hide! Prayerfully, in a quiet place, let the Spirit find you and open up to Him, with honest confession – about your confusion, about your guilt, about that shame that makes you feel so worthless. Then, by faith, accept the grace that makes you new and whole! Discard the ‘fig leaves’ and put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness (right standing with God) that He gives to us, freely in Christ Jesus.

Here is a word from the Word. May it be living truth and reason to be ashamed and alone no more. "Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness—righteous, holy, and true." (Ephesians 4:21-24, NLT)  “Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. … So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you.” The Message (Col 3:10-12)

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No Longer Slaves

(worship at this link)

You unravel me with a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance from my enemies

Till all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my Mother's womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again into Your family

Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea so I could walk right through it

My fears were drowned in perfect love

You rescued me so I could stand and sing

I am a child of God

Brian Johnson | Joel Case | Jonathan David Helser

© 2014 Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055