How do you treat your “car”? This is a rather odd question to ask on a blog about reflecting faith, but I really want you to think about this for a second. Think about what current condition your car is in, how you drive it, how often you take care of it, and what you think its life expectancy is before it no longer works. Do you have those answers in your mind? Think for another second. Ok, good. The reason I wanted you to reflect on how you treat your car and what condition it is in is because I feel we can make the comparison between how one treats his/her car to how one treats his/her life. For this blog post, I want you to follow me through the analogy of how one can treat a car to discover its relationship to how one can treat his/her life and what are the results from treating each one a certain way.

When someone is driving a car that has a full tank of gas, there isn’t a care or concern in the world. There is the trust that the car has exactly what it needs and as much of it as it needs to reach the destination. Things change however, as the gas starts getting used. As the gas starts depleting, the amount of destinations and the distance that car can travel before not having enough fuel starts to become limited. As that gas gauge starts to creep towards that empty symbol, the driver starts to not have that full trust that the car has what it needs to reach the destinations. Anxiety starts to set in once that warning light turns on that there is low fuel in the tank. However, the driver, instead of taking the necessary time to stop and refuel, continues to drive as to not interrupt his/her busy day, hoping there is enough in the tank. This causes his/her anxiety and stress level to grow as less and less assurance takes over that the car will make it. The driver continues to try and push the limits of that car’s ability and eventually that limit is reached.

Our lives are just like the driver and the gas. When we are filled up with rest, peace, and time with the Lord, we fully trust that we have everything we need to go for a very long time or take that “long trip”. We also have all it takes to help many people in their current needs or travel to many “destinations”. Once we start using up what has been filled in us, things start to change. We start to limit the time we have before we need to be filled up again, as well as the number of people we can help. Our bodies have natural warning signs built in to remind us when we are running low, when we need to rest, and when we need to spend time with the Lord and get filled up again. When we ignore these signs and continue to press on with the limited “fuel” we have, anxieties and stresses start to take over our lives. We lose the ability to really help others or do many things in our lives. Eventually, like the car, we reach our limit and are now “burned out”.

Each one of us has a limit. These limits vary depending on the person; however, there is definitely a limit. We must not ignore that limit. Time needs to constantly be taken to pause our lives to get filled up again so we can continue to press on, go many distances, and help many people. Let’s look at Jesus’ life and how he handled being filled up. “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.” Mark 6:45-46 NIV. Jesus just went the distance He had. He just got finished feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and fish. After serving in such a massive way, He knew He needed to take some time to rest and refuel. He went away, alone to pray. He is the Son of God who could do and can do anything and He still took the time to be alone, rest, and refuel with the Lord. I read something the other day that really hit me. “If the Son of God needed to rest and pray, imagine how much more we need it”. That is so mind blowing to me and something we really need to consider.

A lot of times, like with the car, we feel we are so busy and don’t have the time to stop and refuel. We want to stretch what we have as long as we can so that we use every second of our time to do everything we ever wanted to do. “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” Luke 12:25 NIV. God knows exactly how much time we have on this Earth. He has planned it perfectly for us. He knows exactly how He wants to use us in the time that He has provided. Worrying about that time, trying to stretch it out longer, or trying to cram it full of endless things is not what God wants for us. He wants our trust that the time He provided us with is the exact amount of time that we need to fully serve Him and the exact amount that will bring us the most joy in Him.

Let’s look at another time Jesus paused, rested, and trusted that He had enough time. “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” Luke 4:42-43 NIV. Jesus just got done healing so many people and the very next thing He did was go to a solitary place to rest and refuel. Following that He told all the people that needed Him that He has to go and continue to spread the Gospel. Think about that. The Son of Man, who knows exactly how much time He has in His ministry on Earth before He is put to death, still takes the time to be alone in thought and in prayer. At this time, He is probably the busiest man on the planet, as thousands gather wherever He goes, yet He still always finds time to be in solitary to rest and refuel. With even our most busy days, we will never be as busy or have the burdens that Jesus had. Yet, we still find reasons to not be alone with the Lord and refuel because we don’t want to waste a single second of time experiencing life and helping others. Jesus trusted that the 3 years of ministry He had, before being put to death, would be the exact amount needed to spread His word to the world. Look what has happened, 2,000 years later as those 3 years are still being spread and completely changing lives all over the world. We must trust that God has provided us the exact time needed to do the exact thing He planned for us. Like the car needing to stop every once and a while to rest and refuel, we too must take the time to rest and refuel. Take a second to reflect on how you rest and refuel as well as how often you do it.

When someone owns a car, every once and awhile he/she needs to take the car to a mechanic to get everything checked out or get a tune up. The mechanic makes sure all the parts are in good shape and working order, all the fluids are good, the exhaust coming out of the car is not past the regulation of being too harmful for people and the environment, and that anything that needs to be changed or fixed to make the car function better is recognized and stated. If the person doesn’t go for this tune up or ignores what the mechanic has pointed out, eventually warning lights start turning on stating various problems. If these warning lights are ignored, the car stops working as properly as before, the fluids inside aren’t flowing as well as before, and the exhaust coming out of the car starts becoming toxic. This all eventually leads to the car breaking down.

We tend to treat our lives just like the car and mechanic. When we are constantly seeking council, having people checking in on us, making sure everything in us and with our faith is healthy, and making the changes that are pointed out from unhealthy things, we too run smoothly and function at maximum capacity. However, when we stop seeking council and meeting with others to check in on us, warning signs start showing up. When these signs start showing up and we ignore them, we start putting out bad things for people and for the environments we are in. This left unaddressed, eventually leads us to break down like the car.

“For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” Proverbs 11:14 NIV. Solomon, said to be the wisest man to ever live, reminds us of the importance of seeking council. When we seek council, we are allowing people to examine us from a different angle. They can look through all aspects of our life and faith and determine what things are working smoothly and what things need to be improved. It is easy for us to get tunnel vision about ourselves when we are the only ones looking. However, seeking council gives that outside perspective and brings that wisdom into the picture that can only be found through others. The greatest, most successful people in history always surrounded themselves with many advisers, as Scripture says, to provide advice from all different angles and help guide that person to be the best he/she could be. When we don’t seek council and our bad habits and ways go unchecked, they start to take shape in us. When they take shape in us, they start to form who we are. Once they form who we are, we start not putting out the best us to the world.

“He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.” Mark 7:20 NIV. Like the bad exhaust coming out of the car, we too must be mindful of what is coming out of us, as that defiles us. When things go unchecked by others, we start to develop bad habits and unhealthy mindsets. These things start to change who God intended us to be. When this happens, we start to spread things to others that are not of God in us. This causes others to experience things not of God and can result in chain reactions of things spreading that aren’t from the Lord and people adopting these things. When we constantly seek council, we are able to keep all things working properly, fix things that need fixing, and spread the truest versions of ourselves inspired by Christ. Take time to reflect and see if you are putting out the best you in God’s eyes out to the world.

 Let’s look at one more analogy of how a car is treated. Everyone loves a clean car inside and out. When everything is clean, the car looks great, smells great, feels great to sit in, and a huge confidence is brought when people see the car. The car has plenty of room to do what it was meant to do, drive people around. However, things change when he/she stops taking care of the car. When something is brought into the car and left there, the car starts to lose that clean look. One space is filled, even if it is just a small space, with something not meant to be in the car. This prevents things that were meant to be in the car from being in the car. As this process continues, little by little, the car starts to be filled with unnecessary things that cause clutter; make the car look less appealing to ride in, and starts to bring an odor. All these things that were brought into the car in hopes of not staying long are now almost permanent fixtures as if the car was designed that way. This results in the person being less willing to allow others to ride in the car as shame could set it from what the car has become. The person could also do all possible to keep the outside of the car looking nice to take away from the true horror that has taken place inside. Eventually, the inside of the car starts to pour out when the car door is open. All the seats that were designed for the car to hold passengers are now surfaces consumed by all the things brought and left in the car that were never meant to be there. Resulting in the driver only being able to ride alone and be alone.

We too can fall into the trap of the car and the clutter. When everything on the inside and out is as clean and healthy as God designed it to be, we are able to do what God designed us for, experiencing life, love, and service to God with others. Things start to change when we allow things into our body that aren’t meant to be there and do nothing to try and remove them. When unhealthy thoughts and habits start gaining access into us and are allowed to camp out there, the person God designed us to be starts to change. The space that was fully designed to be filled by the Holy Spirit is now partially taken up by these things allowed in. As the space continues to fill, less and less room is available and devoted to Christ. Little by little, our ways start to change. The person we once were or planned on being is left by the wayside as we drift farther and farther away from God. As this new person takes shape, less and less people want to be around us, as we want to be around less and less people. This can lead us to work super hard on our outward appearances in efforts to hide what has taken over inside of us. Eventually though, our inside us will start to pour out. What started as a little pile up here or there has now completely changed us from God’s intentions for us.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” 1 Corinthians 4:14 NIV. I think it is easy for us to forget at times that we are not our own. We are here to serve God. In those efforts, we must keep our bodies clean from all impure things that hinder our ability to serve Him. Just like the seats in the car, when we store things inside us that aren’t from God, we take up space that was designed for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. When we free ourselves from those things, we free up that space to allow God to work in us. God gives us the power of free will. We must invite Him into us to work through us. If everything in us is filled up with things not of Him, how will we have room to allow Him in? Like the clean and fully functioning car, we too must keep our temples clean and fully functioning so God can do all He has planned for us in this life. Take a second to reflect and see if you allow things to pile up inside you little by little that God didn’t intend to be in you.

Behind the Writing:

A few weeks ago, I had to dedicate almost an entire day to cleaning out and fixing up my car. I was sifting through all the things that had pilled up in there and saw how months of neglect transformed my car into a junkyard on wheels. Along with that, neglect to the warning lights on my dashboard was feeding into my car’s poor performance. As I was going through this grueling process I kept thinking, “if I would just constantly keep my car clean and maintain it as it is being used, I wouldn’t have to spend almost a whole day fixing it”. This got me thinking about other things I experience with my car. All the times I see the low fuel gauge and take my stress level to 10 hoping I can make it to a gas station in time, realizing it could have all been avoided if I just regularly would pause my busy life and refuel. In thinking through all this stuff, I started to realize that I was treating my life the exact same way. I would allow things to pile up inside of me instead of cleaning them out. I noticed that when these things had piled up, I would drift away from council, as shame would take over from the condition I allowed myself to be in. When I stopped seeking council, I started to put things out into the world and to people that was not God’s intended message. All of this reflection made me really step back and see how I must keep constant maintenance on my life or things could get really out of control and away from God.

“But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.” Psalm 73:2 NIV

 “When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:21-24 NIV

 -Philip