Monday, April 07, 2008

Apathy

One of my spiritual gifts is passion. I relate this it enthusiasm, conviction, or just flat out caring. I think that for people with these types of gifts, Satan's primary objective is to make you stop caring.

If Satan can make you stop caring, then that pretty much cuts the life-line of energy and desire to the ministries and people to which you were called to serve.

Lately I've found myself saying more and more often that I just don't care, or worse yet, I can't care.

Passion carries quite a price tag. It's not cheap to live life passionately. Most people who embody this gift have battle scars to prove it. In the immortal words of U2, "the heart that hurts is the heart that beats."

I saw this prayer a few years ago and it has been on my refrigerator since. It reminds me that to being a Christ-follower is not meant to be a life of comfort, but holy uneasiness is what God gives us to keep us longing for home.

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and
superficial relationships, so that
you will live deep in your heart.

May God bless you with anger at
injustice, oppression, and
exploitation, of people and the earth,
so that you will work for justice,
equity, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to
shed for those who suffer so you will
reach out your hands to comfort
them and change their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with
the foolishness to think that you
can make a difference in the world,
so you will do the things which
others say cannot be done.

1 comment:

Pamela said...

I'm printing that prayer right now to use as a reminder that being uncomfortable, angry, sad and foolish in those situations and in those ways is a good thing. Thank you.