"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart" -- Bob Pierce, World Vision founder

I have Christian friends whose hearts get broken when things in the political arena do not turn out like they had hoped. I know believers whose hearts get broken over the ups and downs of their favorte sports teams. Some people’s hearts get broken by the outcomes of television programs.

Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, pleaded for us to allow our hearts to be broken by something far more important than all those things. Pierce pleaded with believers to have their hearts so in tune with God’s heart that their hearts would be broken by those things that break God’s heart.

What breaks God’s heart? I do not think it is the outcome of a sporting event or a television show or even a particular election or the direction the stock market is going. Clearly, God’s heart is broken by the fact that so many of His human creations are estranged from Him. For instance, He intimated to Jonah that the lost people in Nineveh broke his heart (Jonah 4:11). Remember also that Jesus wept over the waywardness of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).

Bob Pierce was an American evangelist who, on a trip to Asia in the early 1950s, was overcome by the plight of homeless orphans he encountered. He decided to start an organization to do something about it. That organization was World Vision.

Thereafter, as Pierce promoted the ministry of World Vision, he shared his prayer, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break God’s heart.” That would be a good prayer for us too, wouldn’t it?