What Did the Surgeon Find in His Heart?

A little boy with heart problems was scheduled to have open heart surgery. The surgeon explained to him what was about to happen. “Tomorrow I will open up your heart…” The boy interrupted him and said, “You’ll find Jesus in there.” 

The doctor started over. “Tomorrow I’ll open your heart to see how much damage has been done…” The boy interrupted again. “When you open my heart, you’ll find Jesus in there. The Bible says He lives in my heart.” 

 

The surgeon, annoyed by the boy’s interruptions, turned to his parents, who sat quietly by their son. He explained to them about the possible damage and what might be done to correct it. Then he told the boy, “I’ll look in your heart too see what I can find…”  Again, the boy said, “And you’ll find Jesus in there.” 

 

The next day, the operation revealed the boy had a damaged aorta, a damaged pulmonary vein, and widespread muscle degeneration. There was no hope for a cure or a transplant. The boy wouldn’t live much longer. 

 

The surgeon went back to his office and quietly wept. Another doctor, who knew he had performed surgery on a child, stopped by and asked, “What did you find when you looked in his heart?” With tears dripping down his face, the surgeon looked up and said, “I found Jesus in there.” (source unknown) 

People find Jesus at different times and in different ways. The Lord wants everyone to find Him, but first we must open our hearts to Him. Some find Jesus when they learn about Him at church as a child. Others open their hearts to the Lord after a tragedy occurs. Some people find Jesus when they receive a shocking medical report. God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). 

When we find Jesus, He literally comes to live in our hearts, just as the little boy said. Paul wrote, “I pray that Christ will live in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17). You can’t see Him, but He truly does live inside every believer. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

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It All Went Up in Smoke

After spending months writing his book The French Revolution, Thomas Carlyle took his manuscript to his friend John Stuart Mill for his comments. Mill passed the manuscript on to a lady named Mrs. Chapman, who read it by the fireplace on the evening of March 5, 1834. Before she went to bed she laid the manuscript on the mantel.

The next day, the maid came to clean the room and start the fire in the fireplace. Mistaking it as trash, she used the manuscript as fuel to start the fire and burned up the book! Carlyle had to start over and rewrite the entire manuscript.

The same thing happened to the prophet Jeremiah. God told him to write on a scroll everything He had spoken concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations (Jer. 36:2). That covered 22 years, and it would soon be burned in a fireplace.

Jeremiah spent about a year dictating the words to Baruch the scribe, who wrote them down. Because the message called for everyone to turn from their evil ways, it was never going to be a New York Times bestseller. The scroll was taken to evil King Jehoiakim to be read.

The king was in his house with a fire burning in the fireplace. When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king grabbed it, cut it with a knife, and threw it into the fire, destroying the entire scroll (36:2-23). The king tried to seize Jeremiah and Baruch, but the Lord hid them (36:26).

It had to be devastating for Jeremiah to see all his work go up in smoke. Then God told him to start over and write it again! He took another scroll and rewrote all the words on the scroll that Jehoiakim had burned, plus more information (36:28-32). 

Maybe you need to start over because everything you had before went up in smoke. You’ve lost your job. You’ve lost your reputation. Your house burned down. You got divorced. You’ve lost a loved one. Like a burned-up manuscript, all you have left are a pile of ashes.

However, the Lord still has a good plan for the rest of your life. He will give you “beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair” (Isa. 61:3). God will help you start over. Don’t say that you can’t. You can and you will!  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

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We Act on What We Believe to be True

In the days before cell phones, a woman received a phone call while her husband was out delivering packages for UPS. The caller said, “Mrs. Williamson, this is Dr. Chandler. I’m sorry to inform you that your husband is in the hospital with a life-threatening disease and may die. We need a hair sample from you immediately to run some tests because we believe you may have also contracted this disease.”

 The wife was shaken when she heard the shocking news. The doctor instructed her to cut off all her hair at the roots and bring them in. She clipped off all her hair until she was bald and asked what to do next. The man replied, “Wait for your husband to come home. I made up this entire story. Goodbye.”

We don’t necessarily act on what is true, but on what we believe to be true. The woman acted on what she believed to be true, and not what was actually true. But she wasn’t alone. The news reported that six other women had fallen for the same prank.

Joseph’s brothers did something similar when they deceived their father, Jacob. They dipped Joseph’s tunic in blood and made Jacob believe Joseph was killed by a wild beast, even though it wasn’t true. He reacted to the lie as if it were true and declared he would mourn until his dying day (Gen. 37:31-35). He continued to believe the lie until many years later, when the brothers told him the truth (45:25-28).

Jesus said Satan is a liar (John 8:44) and is able to deceive the whole world (Rev. 12:9), so it’s not surprising that many people live their entire lives believing things that aren’t true. A deceived person doesn’t know he’s being deceived. We’re all susceptible to being deceived, but God’s Word and the Holy Spirit can reveal the truth to keep us from being misled.

Don’t be so quick to believe everything you hear. Do your homework, check out all the facts, and ask God to show you the truth. “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com 

Why Did He Jump Overboard?

Cameron Robbins, a recent 2023 high school graduate, was on a trip to the Bahamas with students from several local high schools. Just four hours after their arrival, Robbins and his friends went on a sunset party cruise. The boat, named Blackbeard’s Revenge, was designed to resemble a pirate ship. Around 9:40 p.m. someone dared Robbins to jump off the boat into the shark-infested waters. Taking up the challenge, he voluntarily “walked the plank” and jumped overboard.

 

A video taken moments after the jump shows Robbins ignoring onlookers’ pleas for him to grab a life ring that had been thrown in the water. A silvery reflection stirred in the dark waters near the boat’s hull, which may have been a shark. Robbins swam away from whatever it was in the water. The last scene of the video shows him splashing a few feet from the boat, before disappearing under water. The teen’s body was never recovered.

How could anyone be foolish enough to jump off a ship at night where tiger sharks were known to be? Someone dared him to do it. Maybe he was afraid to say no in front of his friends. Maybe it was to prove he was brave. Perhaps he thought the video would go viral on social media and he would become famous (which it did). Whatever the reason, I’m sure he regretted his decision not long after he hit the water, but then it was too late.

Cameron Robbins represents many people who are partying on the wrong ship, listening to the wrong voices, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. They make hasty decisions that will ruin their lives without thinking about the consequences. It might not be jumping overboard, but something just as dangerous and fatal in the long run.

Proverbs 14:16 says, “A wise person suspects danger and cautiously avoids evil, but the fool is arrogant and careless.” That means we have the courage to say no when people dare us to do very stupid things. We choose to be with friends who follow God and avoid those who want us to do wrong. Solomon said, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Prov. 13:20).   www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com