Carlos was driving home one night after attending a mid-week evening service at his church. The sermon was about the Good Samaritan. The preacher waxed eloquent, and Carlos was moved by the preaching. He realized how uncaring he was, and wanted to turn over a new leaf.
So driving home that evening, Carlos picked up a hitchhiker. As they drove along, Carlos began to feel suspicious of his passenger. He checked to see if his wallet was still safe in his pocket. It wasn’t there!
Carlos slammed on the brakes and ordered the hitchhiker out, demanding that he hand over his wallet. The frightened hitchhiker gave him a billfold, and Carlos drove away.
“What is this?” he thought to himself. “Here I am, wanting to help people, and yet the people I’m helping takes advantage of me? How can I possibly be a good Samaritan when people simply cannot be trusted?”
Arriving home, Carlos began telling his wife about the experience. “Carlos,” she said, “you left your wallet at home this morning!” Carlos quickly looked at the billfold belonging to the hitchhiker.
Do you quickly jump to negative conclusions? Have you given up hope on people? I have a one-word reminder for you: “DON’T!”
Don’t let your heart be hardened by those who have hurt you. Keep your heart tender. This is the only way you can understand true grace and joy.
Don’t let your heart be hardened by hurt. Hurting people will always hurt other people. People who have been hurt and who have not released that hurt will end up hurting other people. Just look at the powerful and influential personalities in our midst: business people, politicians, celebrities and the like whose entire agenda in life seem to be the pursuit of vengeance and the use of power to hit back at those who have hurt them. Many of them have been hurt before, and now their hearts are hardened.
With hearts hardened, faces stiffened and fists clenched, and harboring bitterness resentment, these people go out into the world wanting to extract revenge. Always, they end up being hurt themselves.
Bitterness is poison, and resentment is cancer. Bitterness destroys others, while resentment destroys the self. Bitterness and resentment are also the reason why unforgiving people tend to be quick to judge others.
In Jesus’ day, the Scribes and Pharisees were quick to judge others while not realizing they had far worse faults in their own lives. Jesus rebuked them for seeing a speck in another’s eye while they had a plank blocking their own vision.
Many relationships have been damaged because someone was too quick to judge. I say, don’t jump into rash conclusions! “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?”
So the next time somebody rides in your car, and you’re missing your wallet... you know what to do.
(Develop your leadership skills with Francis Kong this May 4-5 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. Call Pam or Krisselle of Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. at 632-6872614 or 09178511115 for further details.)