It Starts in the Heart

     For the last several days, a cream colored cat has hung around our office building.  Someone had put  food out for this feline on the sidewalk leading to our door.  Twice we found the food there which we had to move.  No one in the surrounding businesses knew whose cat this was, but she looked scraped up.  Then, today, the cat came to our front door of the office and cried and cried.  The food was no longer next to our building and she was hungry.  Our hearts were broken for this animal that someone had apparently dumped in the woods behind our business.
     We called around to see if we could get help.  Borrowing a cat carrier from a local vet's office, we tried to lure the cat into the carrier.  Lo and behold, the cat was friendly and immediately ran into the carrier confirming our suspicions that she had been someone's pet that had been discarded.  Once the feline was shut up in the carrier, we took her to a local vet that spays feral cats.  He promised to find a home for her after she had healed up.
     Later as some of us in the office were talking about this, we wondered how could anyone just discard a pet and yet, this happens on a regular basis.  It is not only pets who are discarded though.
Think of man's inhumanity to man that we read about every day.
     On the news, I heard about an Australian student who had come to this country to play sports.  Three bored teens decided to go out and shoot someone to have something to do.  When they saw this man out jogging, they shot him dead.  Four lives shattered in one senseless act.
     Then, today on Facebook, I read about a letter sent to a mother of an autistic son complaining that he was a nuisance in the neighborhood because of the sounds he made while outside.  This woman wrote in her letter that the child should be euthanized and his non-retarded body parts should be sold to help others.  How cruel and cold to pass judgment on a soul made in the image of God.
     What can we say in the face of discarded animals, unfettered abortions even into late term, murder for fun to avoid boredom and a thoughtless letter condemning a child with autism and wishing him dead?  The Bible tells us where the problem lies.  It is found in the condition of the human heart.
     According to Jeremiah 17:9, we read:  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  Furthermore, one day we will be judged by a holy God unless we hear His call to our hearts, repent and turn to Him.  Jeremiah 17:10 says, "I the Lord search the heart and test the m
ind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."  This is, indeed, a scary thought for those who have never entered into relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
     Our hearts are bound up in sin from birth.  We are captives to every whim, lust, impulse, and manner of sinful deeds.  There is no good within us.  Romans tells us more about our nature:  "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...."  No where in that verse is there any exception given.  The word "all" is inclusive.  Additionally, Paul writes in Romans 3:10b-12:  "None is righteous, no, not one;  no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."  So there we have it.  This is the state of men's hearts without Christ.
     When we wonder why people say and do the things we hear about on the news, we now have a better understanding.  It comes from a darkened heart that cannot hear or see anything which does not benefit the selfish desires born of sin.  This is why it is so important for those of us who have been called to salvation in Christ to share the Good News that sets men and women free.  Unless we speak up, how will they hear?
     If we really care about others and stemming the tide of evil we see in this fallen world, we need to live our faith and tell others about it.  We are the hands and feet of Jesus to others in this world.  Thankfully, someone shared the Gospel with us, now it is our turn to pass it on.  Selah!