Have You Filled out Your Organ Donor Card?

No, I have not donated any organs lately, but there was that time I gave away an old piano. However, I am sure that does not count. Many lives have been saved and health restored because someone filled out an organ donor card. A tragic accident for one poor soul leads to another being blessed with a new heart, a healthy lung, a liver replacement or a kidney. It is great to be an organ donor, the only thing is in most cases you will not live to see the beneficial results of your act of kindness to strangers. One of the last things you want to hear before undergoing surgery is: “Nurse, did this patient sign an organ donor card?”

Perhaps you remember a vice president from a previous administration. He became the target of late night monologues. After being told a man who saved several lives by donating his heart, lungs, eyes, liver, and kidneys, the vice president showed his sincere concern by asking, “Well, how is the donor?” Who ever heard of donating an organ while still alive? Yet, you might want to consider doing just that. While we are alive and well we need to donate our organs to God.

Donate your HANDS to work so you can give to those in need (Eph 4:28). We are to work not just to accumulate toys, but to acquire tools to assist others. Also, donate your hands to God by lifting them up to Him in prayer (1 Tim. 2:8).

Donate your MOUTH to speak edifying words to others. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. …And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you” (Eph. 4:29,32).

Donate your LIPS to praise God in song and thanksgiving. “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15).

Donate your BACK to bear your own burdens and those of others. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ… For each one shall bear his own load” (Gal. 6:2,5). Although there appears to be an apparent contradiction, the burdens we help others bear are the heavy loads they cannot carry on their own, while our burdens are the lighters ones we should be able to take care of ourselves.

Donate your FEET to the spreading of the Gospel of peace. Part of the armor of God is “having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15).

Donate your HEART to a loving God. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37).

Donate the LOINS or your mind to be holy (1 Pet. 1:13). We do not often use the word “loins” except when referring to a particular cut of meat such as sirloin or tenderloin. In humans, it refers to the area above the hip and below the ribs. From “gird” we get our word “girdle.” “Gird up” is metaphorical from the tucking of flowing garments into one’s belt so one’s legs were not impeded from movement on a journey. When it refers to your mind it means, “Pull your thoughts together or have a disciplined mind” or “gather up the loose ends of the mind.” This is to help us be holy before God.

Donate your TONGUE to confess Jesus as Lord. According to Paul this will result in salvation. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Rom. 10:9,10)

Donate your BLOOD as a martyr for Christ. In the Book of Revelation, John saw Babylon, the mother of harlots “…drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev. 17:3). Yes, we do not often think about dying for our beliefs. In China, where they have permitted families only one child, second children are to be aborted. A god-fearing woman who refuses, may be forced to, and in some rare cases, imprisoned, tortured and killed. What would you do if your wife or you were forced to either abort or face a firing squad? After all, you may reason with your wife and say, “Get the abortion, the child will die anyway.” Being a Christian requires tough choices.

Finally, donate your HEAD to wear a crown of life in Heaven when your faithful life is over. “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

Don’t wait to be an organ donor when you are dead. Do it now, give your whole body, heart, and soul to the Lord, today.

– Daniel R. Vess