Full Heart

Recently (maybe the past few years), there's been a push for those of us that follow Christ to pray for a 'heart that breaks for the things that break the heart of God.'  Don't know if this phrase started with Hillsong United, or if it started somewhere else and Hillsong pulled it in for their song Hosanna (watch the video HERE).  Either way, it's a pretty awesome idea (or maybe ideal)...but I'm not really sure it's practical.  


Before I get attacked for disagreeing with Hillsong (blasphemy?), let me explain a bit.  I absolutely agree that we should never choose to overlook injustice, poverty or the sin in our own lives.  But can you imagine if we could even begin to grasp the unbelievable sadness we'd embrace if we wept for everything that breaks the heart of God?  I never really thought about this until this morning...


So I've been reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.  I know, I know...I probably should've read this in 7th grade or something.  But I didn't, so I'm doing it now...and it's an amazing book so far.  Anyway, there's a part where a man is explaining how he owns slaves despite his belief that slavery is horribly immoral...and he says that "the best we an do is to shut our eyes and ears, and let it alone."  He also said that "if we are to be prying and spying into all the dismals of life, we should have no heart to anything."  


Here are my thoughts from that...maybe we weren't designed to be able to comprehend everything that breaks the heart of God.  Maybe instead we've all been given (in Christ) a measure of compassion for those in need that we encounter and passion for certain 'greater' areas of service.  My friend Adam Taylor, for example, couldn't pass by the boys we met in Ethiopia...he was given a passion to involve himself directly and completely in their lives.  But if Adam was constantly overwhelmed with the evil of human trafficking in Greece or the persecution of the Church in China, he probably wouldn't get much done.  I'm not saying we should 'shut our eyes and ears' to the areas outside our passions, but maybe we should acknowledge that ultimately, it's God's job to fix everything (not ours)...and maybe he uses our passions to direct our actions.


So my prayer is that God would break my heart where he wants it broken.  Also, and maybe more importantly, I pray that he'd give me joy in the things that delight him.  How awesome would that be if we could look around this world not just with an eye and heart that discovers and embraces pain, but with an eye and heart for the beauty, love and grace that he's poured into everything that surrounds us.  That may just overwhelm us, but it would be truly amazing...