Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours
Hosanna, a popular worship song by Hillsong United, has a refrain, “Break my heart for what breaks yours…” I have been thinking about that one line for several days this week, and I’ve wondered whether or not we are fully aware of the fact that we are asking God, to break our hearts the way HIS heart breaks. We can’t or won’t allow our hearts to break for families that are hurting within our very own communities, but most Sundays we deceive ourselves into believing that we are capable of bearing up under the things that break God’s heart.
The weight of the request is almost too much to process as I’m left almost paralyzed by the crippling thoughts of our brokenness. Yet we, with hands raised and sometimes with our eyes closed, utter the words so casually to the point that it almost seems reckless. How do we even begin to think that we’re able to take upon ourselves the things that God had to send Jesus to take up for us? The Bible says, mankind’s or human’s every thought is wicked and evil, and our history proves our inability to do good with the measure of permission bestowed upon us. However, in our desire to be humble, we ask for more. With hands lifted in worship, we ask a sinless God, the creator of the universe who cannot look upon sin nor can He be in the presence of sin, to break our hearts the same way His heart breaks.
No wonder we continue to struggle to do the smaller, simpler things like love each other, forgive each other, and bear each other’s burdens. We are too busy wanting to take on God-like permission that no human can endure. Too often we miss out on being salt and light to the world because we are too busy trying to be like little gods. Too often we disregard each other’s struggles because we’re too distracted doing the things Jesus already came to fulfill.
We can barely admit to our own faults, let alone hold immoral behaviors accountable, but we will spend our lifetime asking God to break our hearts for what breaks His. If we took only a few moments to evaluate our own hearts, there’s enough brokenness and sin within to crush the heart of God.
If we thought of all the conditions we impose on those we lend our voice and advocacy to, that would devastate the heart of God. If we took some time to evaluate the way we thought of others, especially those who look and sound differently than we do, there would be enough to shatter the heart of God.
If for some reason, we come up faultless in any of those areas, then our response to the innocently incarcerated, foreigners, native people, the poor, urban residents, the abandoned, the oppressed, the destitute, the prisoner, and the homeless, would eviscerate the heart of God.
There is one area to which we lend all of our time and all of our resources, the unborn. Christians march, campaign, and fundraise to save the unborn, but ignore the institutions so steeped in hate, that perpetuates the problem. Christians ignore the history of the movement of anti-abortion and knowing or unknowingly become a part of the problem. Often, the unborn they’ve so passionately advocated for eventually become the human they’ve learned to fear. So they seek harsher punishment for crimes, they promote and advocate for conservative judges whose decisions continue to criminalize, incarcerate, and demonize marginalized populations.
Forgive us of our flippant disregard of the weight of our request. Forgive us for choosing who we extend our convictions too. Forgive us for asking to give us opportunities to be like you and when presented, we figure out an explanation to justify inaction. Forgive us all the times we’ve missed opportunities to be the Good Samaritan. Or, when we’ve let your image-bearers suffer under brutal injustices.
Forgive us for turning a blind eye to hatred for the sake of country or partisanship. Forgive us of lacking empathy. Forgive us for looking away from kids being separated from their families. Forgive us of supporting unjust laws. Forgive us of demonizing each other. Forgive us of excusing poor behavior. Forgive us of silence when you needed us to speak up. Forgive us of abandoning our request after realizing that it takes effort to be like you. Please with an extra measure, we ask you to forgive us for surrendering to the comforts of our sinful tendencies and conditions that leave the world wondering, “How is our love any different from hate?”
We have been given instructions. Mine is to help the poor, the widowed, and the orphaned. I will serve the homeless, the wounded and traumatized families, pregnant and homeless women, and those without a voice. I will serve to demand justice and righteousness for my neighbor.
If you are truly seeking to commit to doing good work, here are a few suggestions. Speak up for the hurting, the broken, the outcast, and the innocent. Challenge a tradition or belief that goes against scripture. Seek the truth. Get to know your neighbor. Make a dish and deliver it. Apologize to someone you’ve hurt. Write a note of apology and mail it to them. Learn about a culture you have a negative attitude towards. Learn that difference doesn’t equal criminal or whatever your thought might be. Get involved in your prison ministry at the local jail. There is enough pain and suffering in this world that’s visible enough to break your heart, without asking God to place on you an additional burden that you cannot bear.