I’m old enough to actually remember hearing on the News about the first human heart transplant. This radically new surgical procedure took place on December 3, 1967, in South Africa. The lead surgeon was Dr. Christiaan Barnard. The world was completely captivated by the news of this achievement. And then the world was completely shocked to learn that the recipient of the heart died 18 days later. As it turned out, this patient’s death was due to pneumonia – not anything directly connected to the heart transplant. Other transplant recipients survived much longer. Today, heart transplants are not uncommon, and they no longer grab the attention of the entire world in the same way it did following those first transplants.
Which, I guess, is simply a reflection of the times in which we now live. The “Amazing”, the “Breath-taking!”, the “Phenomenal!” barely hold our attention for more than few minutes. Why? Because “The Next Big Thing!” is already headed our way. We are so over-saturated with “Breaking News” that our attention spans are now measured in minutes, or less. If we aren’t grabbed by the first few words we hear, or pictures we see, it’s “click” – “What else is on?”
And that is a shame, because there is so much in our world that is truly remarkable and wonderful, and worthy of our attention. Pastor Mark Batterson of The National Community Church in Washington, DC, tells of attending the National Prayer Breakfast several years ago. The speaker was Senator Bill Frist, a former surgeon who had performed more than 150 heart transplants before being elected to the Senate. Senator Frist described the moment in the transplant operation when the donor-heart has been fully grafted into the chest of the patient. At that point, the physicians have done all they can do. All of the science that modern medicine can provide has reached its limit, and the surgical team can now only wait to see if the new heart will beat on its own. And when [and if] it does, it is a mysterious, and yes, a miraculous moment.
Because the heart is, in ways that science cannot explain, more than a bio-physical pump that continuously circulates five quarts of blood through 60,000 MILES of blood vessels. According to Pastor Batterson, medical studies have shown that the heart secretes a form of strange, “brain-like” hormones, and even has something that can best be described as “cellular memory”. Interestingly, studies show that heart transplant recipients often experience completely new sensory responses, and even new habits, for which there is no scientific or mathematical explanation. It is just something that happens but cannot really be explained.
Is any of this sounding familiar from a spiritual context? Look at what God has promised to those who turn to Him: “I will give you a new heart – I will give you new and right desires – and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.” – Ezekiel 36:26. Now that is a truly amazing and phenomenal heart transplant! New desires and new habits and new compassion should absolutely be evident in every aspect of our lives as followers of The One. Why? Because our old, sickly hearts are gone, and He has given us His own heart.
One of the nearly universally acknowledged reactions of physical heart transplant recipients is a desire, even a gladly-accepted responsibility, to honor the donor. That should certainly describe all of us in the Family of God, right? How strange it is then when the unbelievers of this world can sometimes accurately describe believers as “heartless”. How can this be when we have received a new heart of love from God Himself?
One of the things we are constantly working on here at TOCC is “The First and Greatest Command”. Remember how it goes? “Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” – Matthew 22:37. The reason we keep working on this Command is because we still haven’t got it figured out completely. We’re still trying to get it right. And, as we keep reminding ourselves, until we can get this, the First and Greatest Command right, we have no business looking down our spiritual noses at people out there who are struggling with some of the lesser commands – Amen?
Maybe believers are sometimes accused of being “heartless” because we have gotten The Greatest Command a little bit out of order. Notice that the first element that Jesus lists is love from the heart. Maybe He said “heart” first because it is the most important. Maybe the mistake we make is that we try to meet our world primarily through our minds instead of our hearts. We try to “explain” things to them. How’s that working out for us?
Of course, I know that nobody reading this has been a part of creating the perception problem that the world has regarding so-called “heartless” Christians. In the words of Billy Joel, “We didn’t start the fire”. Great! But I’m talking to myself here. I fear that there have been times when I really did “start the fire”, when I really have been “heartless”, when the smell of gasoline and smoke is on my hands.
But even if you have no blame in starting the problem, that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the solution. From now on, compassion – true, heart-felt compassion - must be how we lead into any engagement with the outside world. In the words of Pastor Batterson, there is no defense to compassion. I hope you will do two things: join me in leading with compassion, and hold me accountable when I fail.
And maybe, this will be the kind of heart transplant that will catch the world’s attention once again.
Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey
