Perfecting the Heart Transplant
The first successful heart transplant was achieved in 1967, but it would take decades for medical science and skilled practitioners to advance the success of the procedure. One such skilled practioner was Dr. Zbigniew Religa of Poland. Religa dedicated his career to transforming Poland's outdated healthcare system.
A now famous picture Religa captures his exhaustion amidst the tangled aftermath of a 23 hour long heart transplant surgergy (a surgery thought nearly impossible in Poland at the time).
As one Facebook poster observes:
This image does more than document a surgical milestone; it invites viewers into the intense reality of the operating room, where science and human spirit collide. It speaks to the sacrifices and unyielding commitment behind medical miracles. The photograph became iconic because it revealed not just the triumph of transplant surgery, but the deep exhaustion and hope that fuel such extraordinary moments. It is a timeless tribute to those who dedicate their lives to saving others, often at great personal cost.
The picture captures perfectly the effort, the exhaustion, the skill, and the ability of this pioneering heart surgeon. And the operation was a great success. The patient, Tadeusz Żytkiewicz, lived until 2017 ... 30 years post surgery!
Dr. Religa, as others both before and after him, have been hailed as medical saviors.
What a picture, and what an accomplishment. Yet with all Dr. Religa's skill — his effort, his commitment — his patient still died.
Truth is, we are all desperately in need of a heart transplant. But we need more than a medical savior. We need a spiritual heart transplan executed by the Savior of our souls — the one who accomplished what was once thought "impossible," instilling eternal "hope," at "great personal cost."
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26, ESV).
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10, ESV).
"I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart" (Jeremiah 24:7, ESV).
"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (James 4:8, ESV).
And finally, once we have submitted to the Great Physician, asking him to replace our hearts of stone with a new a living heart ...
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22, ESV).
"... in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15, ESV).
A Cleverly Disguised Christian
Fox News reports:
One of the top running backs in the nation and a Heisman Trophy favorite, [Ashton] Jeanty recently sat down with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to discuss the "ultimate transformation" he underwent and how he credits his faith for that change. ... "I like to say that I’m a Christian cleverly disguised as an All-American running back," Jeanty.
"I’ve learned that God has blessed me with amazing talents. I’ve just been able to do a lot of great things with it, but at the same time, not losing yourself in it and understanding that my identity is in Christ." ... "Once I decided to give my life to Him and change my ways, it’s been an ultimate transformation," Jeanty said.
"You don’t have to be perfect to come to God, but all you have to do is trust in Him and have faith in Him, and He will change your life. I feel that everything that I’m doing now is because of that. Obviously, I’ve been able to do some great things on the field, but beyond that, He’s changed my life. He’s changed my views, my personality. I felt that I wasn’t really a man before. I was just a boy. But now I feel as I’m a man and a man of God."
Are you a football player (or egineer, or doctor, or homemaker, or janitor) who happens to be a Christian? Or are you a Christian cleverly disguised as (insert profession here)?
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20, ESV).
"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2, NLT).
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It's Time for a Trim and a Shave
Imagine a customer at a barber getting his hair and beard trimmed when the barber and patron strike up a conversation. They talk about many things and various topics, and for a moment, the topic shifts to God.
The barber says, "I don't believe God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, just look out there in the street. What happens out there shows that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, why are there sick people? Why are there abandoned children? If God exists, surely there would be no sickness or suffering. I can't imagine a loving God would let all this happen."
The customer pauses to think for a moment, but doesn't respond, not wanting to start an argument. The topic changes, the barbar finishes his work, and the customer leaves the shop.
He no sooner walks out the door than he sees a man on the street with long, unkempt hair, dirty and tangled, with an untrimmed beard. The man looked dirty and neglected.
The customer turns on a dime and marches back into the shop, "You know what? Barbers don't exist!"
The barber objects, "How can you say that? I am here, and I am a barber. And I just cut your hair!"
"No!" the customer retorts boldly, pointing out the window. "Barbers don't exist, because if they did, there would be no people with long, dirty hair and untrimmed beards like that man out there."
"But barbers do exist!" the barber argues. "What you see is their own fault; why don't they come to me?"
"Exactly!" the customer agreed. "That's the whole point!"
The argument that God must NOT exist because ugliness and evil does, is nothing but a strawman fallacy of the ultimate proportion.
In this ugly, unkempt, messy, stinky, dirty world, God indeed exists. Yet it is up to US to seek Him. And once we seek Him, it is up to US to actually settle into His chair to let Him conform us into a more beautiful image ... into HIS image!
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13, ESV).
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV).
"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8:29, ESV).
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2, ESV).
"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:10, ESV)."And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24, ESV).