Sunday: Mastery of Non-Caring in General
WEEK 40
SUNDAY
MASTERY OF NON-CARING IN GENERAL
Romans 1:18-21
We have studied the mastery of the ingrown. We have applied it to outgoingness in evangelism. We take another step and apply it to the mastery of non-caring in general. The moment people come in contact with Jesus, they began to care; so much so that Baron Karl von Hugel, the Roman Catholic layman, defined a Christian as follows: “A Christian is one who cares,” a very profound definition. Where Christ is not, people do not care.
When the blind man called after Jesus, the disciples told him to keep quiet; he was disturbing things. But Jesus stopped and asked them to call the man. Then they ran to him and said: “Get up! He’s calling you.”(Mark 10:49). They weren’t interested in him until Jesus was. They followed his interest. We have been doing that ever since.
An Indian Christian doctor told me he came across a woman by the roadside with a crowd around her as she was giving birth to a child. It was a tamasha, a show to them. He took the woman and the child into his hospital. But not a person in that crowd would help. They didn’t care. This same doctor told me of another case of a man lying with a broken leg, with a crowd standing around looking, no one doing a thing. He had to pick him up and take him into his hospital, and nobody would help. They did not care. He told another story of a woman lying on the road hurt, and the bystanders were doing nothing. A Christian woman came along, took her in her tonga to the hospital, and gave her some money. She cared.
I visited a school for the blind and saw the loving care and patience given to the students. The Hindu head of industrial schools, a government representative, said: “Only Christians will do this work.” The government could not get teachers for these schools. Christians are people who care; and the more Christian they are, the more widely they care and more deeply. When they are truly Christian, they care for everybody, even enemies. I asked an old lady, of one-hundred-one years, her recipe for long life, and she answered, “Take care of others and let God take care of you.” That was perfect; take care of others first and then let God take care of you second.
O Lord, put in me the spirit of caring, of utter caring for everybody, everywhere, and at all times. For in doing it to them, I do it to you. I know that. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I belong to the People who Care; I shall be a good member.