A MAN IN his sixties was walking down the street of a modern subdivision…
In his hand was a scrap of paper from a doctor’s office with a name and address scribbled in pencil. As the man approached the house, he waded the paper and pushed it into his pocket. He made his way to the front door, pushed the doorbell button, and waited anxiously.
Earlier that day, the man had been reading a medical journal in a doctor’s office wiating room when he came across an interesting article about organ donation. He was reading how so many people were on waiting-lists for kidney transplants, and how some would surely die waiting. As he closed the journal, still waiting for his name to be called, he imagined what it would be like too be dying in a waiting room. Right then, he made the decision to donate one of his kidneys.
An hour after asking his doctor for a lead, he was standing out in the cold on the doorstep of a complete stranger. As he herd the door being unlocked from the inside, he was eager to look upon the face of the one who would benefit from his sacrifice. The door pulled open.
“If you’re selling something, I’m not interested.” The first response was automatic. The man inside was middle-aged and appeared somewhat annoyed by his uninvited guest. “No, I’m not selling anything sir,” the older man answered back. “Actually, I guess it might seem odd why I’m here, but you see, I was just out walking and this air is terribly cold, so I thought perhaps you would allow me to step in for a few moments to warm up…” The man inside hesitated for a couple of seconds, glancing back and then sighing with a hint of frustration. “Alright, come on in.” The invitation was cold and half-empty.
The older man stepped into the warm house, and for the next few minutes, he did everything he could to carry on small-talk with the stranger. More than anything, he just wanted a glimpse of who this man was, a peek at the life he would spare. But it soon became evident that this man was ready for his guest to leave. “Sorry, but I’ve got something planned, so I’m afriad you’re going to have to be on your way now.”
The older man generously offered his thanks and quickly stepped back out into the cold. As he walked away from the house, he paused and looked back. Through the large front window, he watched as the man inside plopped down in front of a television and reclined back in his chair. It was precisely at this moment, as he looked upon the undeserving man, that he smiled and said to himself, “This is the man I want to help.”
THOUGHT: Why choose to help someone who doesn’t deserve it? When Jesus came to this earth, he voluntarily sacrificed himself to offer us hope — and certainly not because we deserved it. As Christ hung on the cross, He looked down upon an undeserving crowd of spectators and cried, “Father, forgive them…” Thank God that His desire to save the hopeless was not detoured by rejection. Alan Pitchford
KneEmail: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8
Bible reading for 11.04.09: Hebrews 1; Jeremiah 32, 33
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