[Difference Makers ls] Live Heart Healthy Sampel

Cold Hearts

What does a loving parent do? Does he say, “Hey, kids, go and play on the freeway. It is not a problem. Do whatever you want—whatever you think is right.” Now that is crazy. That’s not love. Or does he say, “Stay away from the street. Look both ways. Cross at the crosswalk. Make sure the light is red and the sign says it is okay to walk now.” 

God is our Parent, and He is serious about the dangers of sin, and loving enough to warn us. Isaiah 1:2 says God raised up children who rebelled against Him. God did everything for them: He raised them, provided for them, and blessed them. Yet they turned their backs to Him. They refused His goodness and said they wanted to do their own thing. They preferred sin. We have done the same thing. And sin hinders love. 

When we sin, our hearts grow cold. Can you feel that in you? I feel that in me. A cold heart is not heart healthy.

All of us are overwhelmed with bad news. We get bad news from the internet, from the news on TV, and on the radio. We hear about bombs going off here, people getting shot there, others killed elsewhere. I do not even want my kids to watch the news. Bad news is everywhere, anytime, all the time. Our hearts grow cold because we cannot handle all the negative news. It is just all too much, emotionally. So, instead of praying about the tragedies and being broken for the sin and pain we see, the news becomes entertainment. We want to see what happens in the scandal. We want to follow the bombing and see what takes place next. The news becomes an entertainment drama instead of breaking our hearts. Our hearts grow cold. 

A person said it like this: “If you live in a graveyard too long, you will stop crying when someone dies.” Am I saying we should cry over every news report? No. We do not have the emotional capacity to do that. But am I saying that we should not have cold hearts to people dying? Yes, I am. We should care when people die. We should care about the tragedies going on in our world. And we should care about the sin that brings them about. 

Lord, make us sensitive to the dangers of sin.