Articles
AN EARNEST PRAYER
Lord, help me never to become callous of heart. Help me to be sensitive to the pains and hurts of others. Let me feel a genuine thrill on truly thrilling occasions: when two young Christians are joined in marriage; when some young man preaches his first gospel sermon, or when some new convert leads his first prayer; when a newborn baby cries, or when some elderly person successfully passes one more milestone in his life; when a sinner responds to be baptized, or when a brother returns.
Lord, I do not want to shut out from my own life the sorrows of others. Make me to weep when tears are in order: when a doctor has just given a frightening report; when parents grieve over their delinquent child; when tears flow from the eyes of a motherless child, or of a childless mother; when a struggling brother or sister has slipped back into sin; when a man has just been forsaken by the wife of his youth; when all hope seems gone among those who had hoped.
Help me to be excited over the successes of others: when someone achieves something that I've never been able to achieve; when some worthy man is appointed an elder of the church; when someone's son is graduated with honors; when some couple moves into that long awaited new home; when some young man's preaching ability has obviously surpassed mine. Above all, Lord, don't let me be jealous.
Lord, help me to be like Thee: compassionate, kind, merciful, gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy, touched with the feeling of others' infirmities, able to weep, ready to rejoice, emotional, loving. Let me deny self, and esteem others better than myself.
And, Lord, let me never become hardened to sin. Help me to hate sin, to weep blinding tears over my own sins, to maintain a conscience void of offense. May I be repulsed and grieved over the sins of others.
Lord, help me never to become callous of heart, for should I do so, I could no longer render effective service to Thee or to my fellow man, and I would forfeit all hope of real happiness, both in this life and in that which is to come.
