Spiritually Speaking – July 2021

The other day I read a story about a young man who was slated to become the new president of a Fortune 500 company. He was only 38 years old, but he was certainly impressive in lots of ways. He had a great presence when he stood up in front of people, and he was extremely handsome. Also, it didn’t hurt matters that he was a graduate of both West Point and the Harvard Business School.

This company’s board of directors had interviewed the young man extensively throughout the morning, and they were ready to name him their new president. However, they decided to break for lunch before they actually made their decision; so, they went to a nearby cafeteria.

This handsome young man was in the line ahead of the others, all by himself, reaching out to put food on his tray. When he got toward the end of the line, he put a roll on his tray and two little pats of butter that cost 3 cents each. Then he took his napkin and carefully laid it over the pats of butter, so the lady at the cash register wouldn’t see them and charge him for them. Sure enough she didn’t see them, and he went on his way having “saved” 6 cents.

But you know what? That afternoon when the board of directors made their decision, that young man was not chosen to be the new president of their company. Why not?

Because three of those directors happened to notice what he did in the cafeteria line ahead of them. And they knew that, if he could do something like that – as simple and small as it might seem, there’s no telling what he might do in handling billions of dollars in their company. They got to see what was in his heart and not just his outward appearance!

What kind of time and effort do you spend cultivating your image and your outward appearance? What kind of time and effort do you spend cultivating your heart and soul? Truly, it’s your heart and soul that count most of all. It’s your heart and soul that will take precedence over your image and your appearance!

A man was lying in bed late one night next to his sleeping wife of over 47 years. His wife was the mother of their four children, and she had always been there beside him through both the good times and the bad times. As he looked at her that evening, he couldn’t help but remember how pretty she was when they were young and first fell in love. All the guys wanted to date her, and he had felt really special when she chose him.

But that was almost 50 years ago, and now she wasn’t the young and vivacious girl she had been way back then. Her hair had turned gray and started thinning out. Her face had lots of wrinkles in it and was sagging in certain places. But, as she lay sleeping that night, the man felt a love for her deeper than he had ever felt before. That’s because—over the years—he had come to see what a truly beautiful person she was…sweet and genuine and true. That’s what really touched him…much more than her physical beauty ever had. It made him love her more deeply than ever before.

What’s inside of your heart right now? Someday you’ll discover that that’s the most important thing of all—that’s what really counts and really matters.

How do you change your heart? How do you make it good and pure and true? Do you know what the Bible says about that? It says that you don’t have within you, nor do I—what we need to change our hearts. We must find that something outside of, and
beyond, ourselves.

The great truth that we need to know is – even though we don’t have what it takes to change our hearts, there is Someone who can. If we will ask him to do so, simply and sincerely, he will come in and change our hearts.

You know it can happen right here and right now…if you really want it to. You can ask Him to come into your life…and what a huge difference that will make!

Amen!

The Reverend Doctor Norman Neaves
Church of the Servant—Oklahoma City, Oklahoma