Pushing help aside

Love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and cling tightly to him (Deuteronomy 30:20).

It was almost one o'clock in the morning when the phone rang. Dr. Leon Winters awoke with a start. It was the hospital; they had a young boy who had been terribly mangled in a late night accident. Couldn't someone else handle the case? No—Dr. Winters was the best surgeon in the Chicago area; the severity of the trauma would tax even his skills to the limit. Dr. Winters got dressed as quickly as he could and headed for his car.

The quickest route to the hospital went through a rough area of town, but with time being a critical factor, there was no other choice. The surgeon almost made it through the worst of the neighborhood. Almost. Then, at a stoplight, his door was jerked open by a man in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. "I've got to have your car!" the man screamed, pulling him from his seat. Winters tried explaining the gravity of his situation, but the man was not listening. With a squeal of tires, the doctor’s car was gone into the night. It took Winters 45 minutes to get a taxi.

By the time he reached the hospital, more than an hour had passed. He burst through the doors and rushed to the nurses' station, but the nurse on duty only shook her head. Too late. The boy had died about 30 minutes earlier. "His dad got here just before he died," the nurse told him. "He’s in the chapel. Go see him, would you? He is awfully confused. He could not understand why you never came." Without taking time to explain, Dr. Winters hurried down the hall and quietly entered the chapel. Alone in the room, a man knelt on the floor, quiet sobs wracking his body. As the doctor stepped closer, he noticed the father’s clothing—a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. It was the boy’s own father who had pushed away the one person that he needed the most.

Many people make the same mistake with Jesus. Every one of us is dying from sin—it poisons our relationships, weakens us with dangerous habits, and consumes precious time and money. Sin makes us unhappy, scared, and depressed. Sin eats away at every part of life, eventually resulting in certain death. Only one person can save us; that person is the Son of God. But many push Jesus out of the way; they are so focused on trying to solve their problems and find happiness that they ignore the only one who can provide what they need. Please, don’t make that terrible mistake; let Jesus take charge of your life, before it’s too late.