BBD 06.30.06 No Heart
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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06.30.06
No Heart
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade
itself, is not puffed up. - 1 Corinthians 13:4.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the
day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil
speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. -
Ephesians 4:30-32.
But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him
who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who
takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone
who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them
back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. -
Luke 6:27-31.
Ronald Michalowicz, only 54 years old, developed cancer of the tongue, which
was thought, would rapidly lead to his death. However, some friends in the
town of Bedford Park, Illinois decided to raise the money necessary for him
to receive treatment. After receiving chemotherapy, the disease is in
remission and it appears that Ronald will survive.
Ronald worked as a fire inspector for Bedford Park, which has a rule against
solicitation of charitable contributions. In Ronald's situation, the rule
was waived by an official of the town and the solicitation was not done by
Ronald himself. Now that he has returned to work, other town officials have
enforced the no-solicitation rule by firing Ronald even though he was just
one year short of retirement.
Personally, I think the town ought to be ashamed! They should be ashamed in
the first place for not providing sufficient insurance to meet the needs of
their employees. Second, they ought to be ashamed that it was not the town
but others that sought to raise the funds necessary for his treatment. The
fact that they have resisted those efforts and discharged from employment a
man who survived in spite of their poor treatment of him is despicable. It
appears likely that the town will profit by being able to avoid the payment
of Ronald's retirement benefits.
It is a fact of life that some people are givers and some are takers. Some
people are kind and some people are mean. Some people care about others and
some people could care less about anyone but themselves. You could say in a
figurative way that some people have a heart and some do not have a heart.
Because it basically comes down to the spiritual condition of a person as to
how the treat others.
What is the solution for a spiritual heart condition? The treatment requires
a heart transplant. Our heart must be replaced with the heart of Jesus. His
nature must be implanted into us. It is a radical treatment but it is the
only way to cure a mean, cold-hearted person of their selfish uncaring
nature. The good news, the great news is that the treatment can be almost
instantaneous and often occurs simply by someone seeing clearly, how much
their God loves them through Jesus.
I like the way that the apostle Paul describes this transformation in his
letter to Titus: "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God
our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by
His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This
is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that
those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good and profitable to men (Titus 3:3-8)."
Copyright © 2006. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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