Does Anybody Care?

“They have made it desolate, [and being] desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth [it] to heart.” (Jer 12:11 AV)

How many have half -finished projects lying around the house because we lost heart?  I am going through that mid-life thing.  Not regrets.  I have learned a long time ago that regrets are a part of life.  However, unless those regrets change a course of life, it is a waste of emotional energy.  Not that kind of mid-life thing.  I am going through that stage of wanting to try something new.  When I initiate the project of interest, I am all in!  Get the right tools, the right instruments, the right materials, etc.  However, when it is painfully honest the end product will not be nearly as perfect as I imagined, it may sit there unfinished.  It is at those times when commitment must be stronger than desire.  When the writer here says that no one lays it to heart, it has little to do with passion and more to do with concern.  In others words, the things of God lay desolate because no one cares!

This is becoming epidemic in our churches and families.  We have an emotionally motivated culture that needs to be stirred to unstoppable enthusiasm before they are all in.  However, when it becomes work, or, it seems as though it has become routine, then it falls by the way side. Try to get folks to come out for soul-winning!  Or, prayer meeting.  Or even three church services a week.  Or any function at church.  We are seeing less and less interest because we are not emotionally motivated to do so.  Our commitment is gone.  We blame routine, boredom, our personal business.  But the truth of the matter is, we are not committed.  We do not lay it to heart.

Note in the above verse, the heart does not lay it to the person.  The person lays it to the heart.  It is not the emotions that motivate the person.  The person motivates the emotions.  Integrity and commitment are the keys.  The job must get done.  There is expectation of faithfulness.  Whether we desire it or not, it needs to be laid to heart!  Or, the work of God lays desolate!