Hard hearts

As I walked downtown to my doctor’s appointment, I came upon a man sprawled out on the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue. The man’s body was lying face up in a weird contorted position. At first glance it appeared to be a dead body and so I stopped and checked for breathing.

Several people walked right by as if the body was not there. A couple even stepped over the man’s outstretched arm and curled hand not giving a second thought to his condition. I watched in unbelief as a partially blind man felt his way around the obstacle tapping the legs, torso and head as he made his way on to wherever life was calling. 

The young man’s face was sun bleached, red and had several days of beard growth on his face. He was relatively clean-cut and well dressed not your average sidewalk catastrophe. As I walked past I observed that the man’s breathing was labored as if he was taking in his last breaths of life.

John Doe’s lifeless body was positioned in the middle of the sidewalk as if it had just dropped from a high rise balcony. I gazed down the sidewalk and was relieved to see two health care workers dressed in scrubs walking towards us knowing that, surely, they would stop to give assistance. These people are trained to help and take an Hippocratic oath to do just that but the man and the woman passed right by the man on their way to their work, not giving this man a second thought.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as I was wondered what has happened to us as a society that we have become so callous and hard of heart that we just don’t even care anymore what happens to people? Another man who had previously passed the man came back with a cell phone in his hands and asked me if the man was breathing. I replied “yes but his breathing was labored”. The man sort of yelled at the man “Dude, are you ok? Can we call someone for you?"  

The man did not rouse. After awhile, he sort of lifted his head and said something indistinguishable. I asked if he needed water to which he said "yes please, I need water!" I could see his lips were parched and he was visibly dehydrated.

As he started to get up, leaning on one elbow, I told him to wait there while I ran to the corner mini mart. I bought a gal of water and a bag of beef jerky and ran back. When I got back, the man was sitting up. I gave him the food and water and asked if I could pray with him.

His eyes lit up as he said “Yes, my name is Tim and I’m a Christian”. Tim grabbed my right hand with both of his and for a moment I wondered what had happened to him to bring him to this point in life? We talked and prayed for awhile until I realized I was late for my doctor’s appointment. I thought I would stop on my way back and take the man out for breakfast as I had some extra time in my schedule. When I returned to the sidewalk, Tim was gone and so was the gallon of water and bag of beef jerky.

We all have a choice to make. We can either choose to harden our hearts or allow God’s Holy Spirit to soften us up with the oil of His love. Our hearts can become like dried out leather gloves but soon the oil begins to seep into the tough, stiff dry leather slowly bring it back to life. The late Keith Green once wrote “Oh what can be done for an old heart like mine, to soften it up, with the oil and wine. The oil is You, Your Spirit of love, come wash me anew in the wine of Your blood.”

It takes only a moment of time to talk to someone and just a little longer to give a cup of cold water, or a piece of bread in Jesus’ name. Why are we so busy rushing around that we don’t have time for other human beings? Why has our society become so callous that men, women and children can be just brushed off out of sight and babies can be abandoned in the trash?

 Every human being is precious in the sight of God. We are His workmanship created for His pleasure and good works. We all race after the mighty dollar, saving and storing our treasure for what? I’m encouraging you to invest in God’s everlasting kingdom, pour into the lives of people all around you. These relationships are eternal!