Lost Causes

Lost causes.

We all have them.

Those situations or people that we think will never change. Those broken relationships that won’t mend. Those people that we love that we watch keep making the same bad choices over and over.

They wear us out.

They sap our strength.

They make us tired…and weary…and mad.

They hurt.

Eventually we start asking ourselves why we even try. Why do we even care? Why do we hope?

With the loss of hope comes apathy — if I just erase it from my mind and don’t expect anything I won’t be disappointed.

Then comes the inability or lack of desire to pray. Why pray if they aren’t ever going to change and if my prayers aren’t being answered anyway?

I saw a lost cause this week.

I saw it in a photo posted on a Facebook page.

It was inappropriate. It was shocking. It was wrong.

It made me mad. It hurt my heart. Then it made me cry.

Someone I love does not see their value. Someone I love is walking in the same circle over and over and not going anywhere. Someone I love is trapped by a past hurt in a cycle of destruction…

…a lost cause.

…a hopeless case.

Or so the enemy wants me to think.

It is a lie.  

As a child we sang a song in Sunday School, “The devil is a sly old fox…”

It’s true — he is sneaky that way. He knows that if we are angry, disappointed or tired, we will be less likely to lift the name of our “lost cause” to God in prayer.

Why bother? If it hurts too much to think about, it will hurt too much to pray about.

This has happened to me over and over.  I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been burdened to pray for someone only to have an “incident” or “disappointment” happen in my relationship with them.

Sometimes it has been a major conflict. Other times it has been something as simple as an inappropriate photo on Facebook. Always, it makes me question them, their actions, and why I even try.

When it comes to lost causes we can’t allow our disappointment in a situation or person to define how we pray for them. 

Luke 6:28 tells us, “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.”

It isn’t easy to pray for someone who has hurt you — but it is right to do it.

And somewhere in the process I usually discover that my anger is lessened, my disappointment is softened and the vision with which I see them is clearer.

Those prayers help breech the wall between my disappointment in them and God’s desires for them and I am given a freedom to love them anew.

The truth is…in the spiritual realm, there really are no lost causes…only found opportunities to see God do His best work.

Are there ‘lost causes’ that you have stopped praying for?  Take a moment and ask God to give you hope for them.  Were you once a “lost cause?”  Tell us your story.