As I write this morning, I am sitting in the waiting room of our local Toyota dealership waiting on RuthAnn’s car. Just routine maintenance. You know with most cars today, they tell us when it is time for something to be done. In the case of my wife’s Corolla a warning shows up on the dashboard saying, “Maintenance Required”. Who would have ever thought our cars would become so bossy.
Like any of you that are about my age, I am sure the cars you grew up with were a little more owner friendly, to say the least. Now I was never a ‘car’ guy. I learned how to change the oil, air filter and inflate the tires. But beyond that I was lost. Still I had plenty of friends who were into being covered in grease and spending their spare time busting knuckles. To be conversant with them I learned the basics of car repair. Knowing all the names of all the parts and also learning to nod my head during the right part of our conversations. I would have been happy if that would have been the extent of my auto repair resume.
The only problem was that I had a habit of buying clunkers. I am the guy who bought that car from your neighbor, yeah, the one he had been trying to sell for a year, but no one was foolish enough to buy it. Well, I did, and you can bet it led me to becoming more acquainted with auto repair than I had ever wanted to be.
It was a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that I could never afford a new car so at least most of these lemons got me back and forth to work. The curse was that I also couldn’t afford to pay a mechanic, so the Chilton manual became one of my favorite books for most of my adult life. I got greasy and busted a lot of knuckles. That is until I started thinking about the situation in a whole different way.
By the time I had reached my late 40’s I knew that not only was my field Ironworking career coming to an end but also that I really did not want to be climbing under a car on the shoulder of a highway or a gravel driveway. It came to me that I probably spent enough time and money repairing the clunkers I had bought to pay for a couple new car or at least slightly used ones. So, in 2006 I bought a car that was only three years old and barely had 40,000 miles on it. But along with this commitment I knew from then on it would mean trips to the dealership and maintenance bills.
Since then I have bought another slightly used car and RuthAnn bought hers new. So now my only auto repair work is the listen to the car when it tells me it is time for maintenance. I am happy about that and so are my knuckles. And as I sat here contemplating it struck me that maybe we, God’s creation have a ‘maintenance required’ warning that flashes in our minds if we are willing to see it.
Let me explain, here is what I am thinking. I think we are a lot like cars. Don’t quit reading, give me a minute to run this by you. We are like cars because God built us with the ability to run for years, if we do regular maintenance and care for our bodies. But I think the analogy ends there because unlike cars we have a soul that requires maintenance also. And for that tune up there is only one mechanic, the Holy Spirit.
The funny thing is today, there are all kinds of programs out there to maintain a healthy, good running body. And everyone who buys into these routines know it takes work and dedication to keep that body fit. And there are also a lot of books out there trying to sell ways to keep the soul fit. But I find a lot of these are trying to sell the idea you can take short cuts when it comes to soul maintenance. Most want to leave out or cut short the most important part, God’s Word, the Bible.
You see, every time I have tried to take a short cut the Holy Spirit has set off that ‘maintenance required’ warning, telling me I needed to spend more time in the Word, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and of the spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 3:12) It is only within these pages that I can find the answers that repair my soul and my connection with our Savior.
Before I finished writing, I received the good news that no extra maintenance was needed. And as I got back into the car I thought, am I not needing spiritual maintenance today or is the Holy Spirit saying, “My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart. (Proverbs 4: 20-21) I think that is exactly what He is telling me to do and like any good mechanic He is certainly offering this good advice.
Blessings and Happy Sabbath, John
4/20/18
