November 3, 2014
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must
not show favoritism…..(8) If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture,
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show
favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” – James
2:1,8-9 (full text v.1-11)
Walking
through the hospital, taking the elevator to the fourth floor and then down the
hall. There it was, the nursery. Many bundles of joy, swaddled tightly in
their little basinets, each with a little cap on their head and sucking
mightily on little pink or blue pacifiers.
Some were a few days old, some just born within the last few hours. Every one of them created by the same God and
brought into this world to love, serve and bring glory back to their
Creator. After all, that is why we are
born, to worship, serve and draw others closer to the throne of the King.
The nurses tend to each of the newborns with the same attention, the same loving kindness and careful handling. Feeding them, changing their soiled diapers, rocking them and singing them lullabies; each baby receives the love of a stranger without judgment. There is always that one baby though which never stops crying regardless of the attention and care provided. Whether it is because of their insecurity, pain or fear; they have a more difficult time adjusting to the newness of life outside of their mother’s womb. What would the on-looking parents, grandparents and family members think if the nurses abandoned this newborn baby, simply because he/she were more loud and boisterous than the others? We expect that the nurses are going to love, care for and nurture each of these newborns with the same passion and dedication, despite their discomfort.
Fast forward 30 years, same hospital but in the emergency room. There has been an accident. A nice car pulling out of the parking lot of a local bar hit a homeless man, a beggar that lived under the highway overpass, and then swerved off the road and into a building. The driver of the car was hurt in the accident, as was the homeless man. As the ambulance brings the two patients to the emergency room, it’s obvious by appearance that they are from different sides of the track (so to speak). The business man in his suit and tie lie on a gurney right next to a gurney where the homeless man lie, wrapped in layers of dirty, torn clothes. As the nurses fill out the paperwork for both patients they discover that they were both from the same town and born on the same day.
The men are separated into two different rooms. The night doctors and nurses come and go, tending to both men and diagnosing the extent of the injuries. Family members come to visit the business man and are found huddling together in the waiting room talking and worrying about the man. Meanwhile the homeless man remains alone, isolated in his pain and suffering. Each man is in critical condition. It is determined that they both have suffered life threatening injuries. The business man broke several ribs and punctured a lung, while the homeless man suffered from a damaged spleen and liver. The prognosis from the doctors was that neither would survive the night without immediate surgery. But, there is only the opportunity in this small community hospital to prep and conduct one surgery in the required time. One of the men is not going to make it through the night, but one of them will.
Thirty years prior to this event these two men lie side by side in the nursery on the fourth floor of this very hospital. Now, they lie near each other in the emergency room and one of them will not see tomorrow. How should the doctor’s make this decision? Should the business man receive priority over the homeless man? Decisions and choices throughout their lives have brought them to this place on completely separate ends of society’s continuum, should that play into the doctor’s decision on who should live and who should die?
The value of one’s life is not determined by money, clothes, job, cars, houses or status symbols. Each of us are created and born for a God given purpose in life and our value is determined by Him and Him alone. The wonderful thing about that scale is that we are all equal in His eyes. We are all children of God and loved equally despite our position in life. God’s love is available to each of us without question. If Jesus Christ’s action on the cross was sufficient to remove the guilt and unrighteousness from my life, than it is sufficient to remove it from every life equally. For what value would His death and resurrection serve if it were only sufficient for some of our sin and not all? We all have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and thereby be redeemed of our iniquities and enjoy eternity with God our Creator.
The nurses tend to each of the newborns with the same attention, the same loving kindness and careful handling. Feeding them, changing their soiled diapers, rocking them and singing them lullabies; each baby receives the love of a stranger without judgment. There is always that one baby though which never stops crying regardless of the attention and care provided. Whether it is because of their insecurity, pain or fear; they have a more difficult time adjusting to the newness of life outside of their mother’s womb. What would the on-looking parents, grandparents and family members think if the nurses abandoned this newborn baby, simply because he/she were more loud and boisterous than the others? We expect that the nurses are going to love, care for and nurture each of these newborns with the same passion and dedication, despite their discomfort.
Fast forward 30 years, same hospital but in the emergency room. There has been an accident. A nice car pulling out of the parking lot of a local bar hit a homeless man, a beggar that lived under the highway overpass, and then swerved off the road and into a building. The driver of the car was hurt in the accident, as was the homeless man. As the ambulance brings the two patients to the emergency room, it’s obvious by appearance that they are from different sides of the track (so to speak). The business man in his suit and tie lie on a gurney right next to a gurney where the homeless man lie, wrapped in layers of dirty, torn clothes. As the nurses fill out the paperwork for both patients they discover that they were both from the same town and born on the same day.
The men are separated into two different rooms. The night doctors and nurses come and go, tending to both men and diagnosing the extent of the injuries. Family members come to visit the business man and are found huddling together in the waiting room talking and worrying about the man. Meanwhile the homeless man remains alone, isolated in his pain and suffering. Each man is in critical condition. It is determined that they both have suffered life threatening injuries. The business man broke several ribs and punctured a lung, while the homeless man suffered from a damaged spleen and liver. The prognosis from the doctors was that neither would survive the night without immediate surgery. But, there is only the opportunity in this small community hospital to prep and conduct one surgery in the required time. One of the men is not going to make it through the night, but one of them will.
Thirty years prior to this event these two men lie side by side in the nursery on the fourth floor of this very hospital. Now, they lie near each other in the emergency room and one of them will not see tomorrow. How should the doctor’s make this decision? Should the business man receive priority over the homeless man? Decisions and choices throughout their lives have brought them to this place on completely separate ends of society’s continuum, should that play into the doctor’s decision on who should live and who should die?
The value of one’s life is not determined by money, clothes, job, cars, houses or status symbols. Each of us are created and born for a God given purpose in life and our value is determined by Him and Him alone. The wonderful thing about that scale is that we are all equal in His eyes. We are all children of God and loved equally despite our position in life. God’s love is available to each of us without question. If Jesus Christ’s action on the cross was sufficient to remove the guilt and unrighteousness from my life, than it is sufficient to remove it from every life equally. For what value would His death and resurrection serve if it were only sufficient for some of our sin and not all? We all have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and thereby be redeemed of our iniquities and enjoy eternity with God our Creator.
© Sondove Enterprises, 2014
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