Our heart motives – “break my heart for what breaks yours”

In recent times, I finally understood it is all about the heart. When God wants to use a person, He looks at the heart.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

The heart is the source of life. The quality of our heart determines the quality of the life that we will live.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)

If we want to become the “Psalms 84” Christian who brings about blessings to the communities and turn barren deserts into refreshing springs filled with autumn rain, we first need to deal with the issues of our hearts. Only a heart that is fully surrendered to God can be used as a conduit of God’s blessings and transformations to flow into the people and communities around us.

I have been touched very much by this stanza in a contemporary worship song:
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

A selfish heart cannot be used by God effectively. A heart filled with pride cannot be used by God either. As we read through stories of great heroes in the Bible, we see that it all starts with God dealing with their hearts to remove all forms of self-centeredness so that they could learn to live fully for the glory of God. As their hearts are made right, they become God’s agents to bring about blessings and transformations in their families, in their workplaces and in their communities.

It is possible to achieve some measure of success with a selfish heart that is not fully surrendered to God. In fact it is also possible for a self-centered heart to follow the principles found in God’s word and achieve success through hard work. However, such success does not bring pleasure to God, and does not produce the “fruit that will last”. If we want to see God-centered success, it is critical to deal with the issues of our hearts so that our hearts become fully yielded to God.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26, NIV)

The wonderful promise of God is that not only does He require our hearts to be right before him; He is also the only one who can transform our hearts to be right before him. There are 3 key characteristics of a heart that is right before God, a heart that can truly “attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.”

1. A contrite heart that has truly repented before God

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3)

Only true repentance can bring us the right heart that will propel us forward to live out the promises of God in our lives. An example is found in the life of the prophet Isaiah.

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:1-8, NIV)

The prophet Isaiah was used greatly by God to bring about blessings and revelations to the nation of Israel. It all started with a personal encounter with God and a response of repentance which brought forth a new heart within him.

Isaiah was going through a difficult time in his life. The king had just passed away, and Isaiah was probably going through a time of sadness, disappointment and uncertainty, not really knowing what to do next. It was at this point in his life that he had a life-changing encounter with God. It was here that God gave Isaiah a vision in which Isaiah saw two things:

• He saw the greatness of God that inspired wholehearted worship from the seraphs
• He saw the greatness of God’s plan for humanity

When we truly get to see the immense splendour and holiness of God, and His perfect plan for humanity as demonstrated through the revelation of the cross, it will lead us into true repentance that will generate a new heart within us. This is completely an act of God’s grace, because we can never through our own effort fully comprehend the nature of God or understand the revelation of the cross – where Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice by paying the price for our sins once and for all, and making us right before God so that we can once again come into the holy presence of God and experience a victorious life transformation.

True repentance produces a deep contriteness within our spirit and will lead us to confess our sins before God. We will see the utter depravity and helplessness that we are in, and the good news is this – as we genuinely repent before God with a contrite heart, God forgives us completely because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ at the cross. He will also give us a new heart and a right spirit within us, which will result in a deep gratitude for the immense grace of God in our lives and a deep desire to be used by God.

2. A compassionate heart that sees people in the same way as how God sees them

Without compassion we can never be effective for Jesus. The new heart that God puts in us when we are born again is a heart of compassion. To have compassion means to see people with the same passion that God has for them. God is passionate to see every single person live out his full potential in life. This is why God grieves tremendously when he sees someone living below his full potential in life or when he sees someone in poor health or when he sees someone living under the burdens of oppression, discouragement or fear. He grieves greatly when He sees the souls that are heading towards a Godless eternity in hell.

God wants everyone to be restored to the abundant life that He has prepared for all of us – a life that is restored into fellowship with God and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10, NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, NIV)

The Bible is full of examples of people who brought great blessings to their communities because they had compassion for the people in their communities.

a) Nehemiah cried for Jerusalem and prayed to God for the exiled people of Jerusalem

They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:3-4)

b) Daniel had compassion for the people of Jerusalem and prayed and fasted to plead for God’s mercy to them

In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:1-3, NIV)

O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. (Daniel 9:16, NIV)

c) Jesus had great compassion and cried out for the people of Jerusalem

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. (Mark 6:34, NIV)

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. (Luke 11:41, NIV)

If we want to bring about blessings to our communities, we need to have compassion for the people in our communities. We need to pray out earnestly, “Lord Jesus, break my heart for the things that break yours! Help me to see the people in the same way that you see them!”

3. A committed heart that loves and follows after Jesus passionately

Commitment is both a conscious decision as well as the result of a passionate love. When we have genuinely received Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior, God gives us a committed heart that loves and follows after Jesus passionately. Commitment is easy when we are deeply in love.

When we start to find that our Christian life is dry and commitment becomes a tiring chore, it is likely to be a sign that we have fallen away from our first love.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelations 2:4-5, NIV)

If we have fallen away from our first love for Jesus Christ, we need to repent and come back to that relationship of love once again. It is only when we are fully embracing this love that we have with Jesus Christ that we can have the passion to become a blessing to the communities around us.