Genuine Love

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 ESV).

Michael DeBakey graduated from the Tulane University School of Medicine in 1932 and, later that year, began inventing surgical devices and the modes in which to use them. Debakey's accomplishments read like a general list of medical breakthroughs: In 1953, he performed the first successful carotid endarterectomy as treatment for stroke, and in 1964 he accomplished the first successful coronary artery bypass, using a transplanted leg vein to reroute blood beyond blocked coronary arteries. In 1966, he performed the first successful implantation of a ventricular assist device (VAD), the procedure for which he is likely most remembered. Years later, teaming with Robert Jarvik, DeBakey created the Jarvik artificial heart, which was first implanted in a human in 1982. And in the 1990s, working with NASA engineers, DeBakey helped develop a heart pump that was so small it could be used in children. The blood flow measurements were taken using a computer that usually modeled rocket-fluid flow. He was an incredible intellect. One story intrigues me the most from his biography. It is said that early in his development of the artificial heart he received a letter from an 11-year-old girl with this question, “Is there any love in an artificial heart?” He would later write that the question gave him pause. Though he was raised in an Eastern Orthodox Church, it was after this question that he came to a deeper faith. He was an unashamed believer to the time of his death, just two months before his 100th birthday. The question is a good one for us to begin with just two weeks before Valentine’s Day. Love is illusive, yet we long for it. Love is real, but describing it is very difficult. The Scripture helps us come to a conclusion about this. It reminds us that love is patient and kind, not envious, selfish, or arrogant. Love doesn’t keep records when people let us down or do us wrong. Love forgives. Love is happy for others’ successes. Love is very optimistic. Love bears all things; it believes in others and what they can be, thus putting up with a lot. Love hopes for the best in others. True love never gives up; it just keeps on keeping on; it means a commitment to love a person whether they love us or not. (cf. 1 Corinthians 13). So, is love found in an artificial heart? I’m afraid not, but love can be found in an old heart made new by the power of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. There’s the source of real love. We’ll see more detail in the coming days. Today, start with Jesus.