Maintenance Required

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ou know how it is.  You’re driving down the road, listening to good music, enjoying the scenery, taking advantage of light traffic, and thinking pleasant thoughts, and then it happens.  The little light on the dashboard suddenly comes on and your focus shifts from a lovely drive through the park to the gripping reality that something may be terribly wrong with your car!  Ain’t life grand?

This happened to me just a few years ago.  I was enjoying a leisurely drive when suddenly the little light on the dashboard sputtered and came to life.  At first, I was very alarmed.  The car was not even a year old so I couldn’t imagine anything major could be wrong, but being the mechanic that I am—and believe me I’m no mechanic—I assumed the worst.  The light read, Maintenance Required!

I arrived home, picked up the phone, and called the dealership where I purchased my vehicle.  The lady in the service department told me I had nothing to fear and no cause for worry. The car is programmed to remind me to have scheduled maintenance every 5000 miles.  I was approaching 10,000 miles on the car so the light was there simply as a friendly reminder to make sure I scheduled maintenance.

What a relief this was and what a wonderful lesson about my spiritual life.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had a built-in Maintenance Required light?  Then we would know when to go to the doctor, when to visit the dentist, when to get groceries, etc.  Life would be so much easier, wouldn’t it?  Well there are certain things built into our systems.  We get hungry and we search food.  We get sick and we see a doctor.  We have a toothache and we go to the dentist.

But what about our spiritual lives?  Does the Bible say anything about maintaining our relationship with God?  What type of maintenance schedule do the Scriptures speak of?  In Hosea 12:6 we find these words, “But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always”.  Can you find the Maintenance Required light in this passage?  It is right there, glaring out at us.  Notice that Hosea encourages his readers to do three things.  First, we must return to God.  What a punch these few words pack!   On a daily basis, we run the risk of distancing ourselves from the Lord and when we do, we are in need of returning so we can maintain the close relationship he longs to have with us.

Second, in our lives we must maintain love and justice.  Neither of these comes naturally to the human heart.  Love, real love for others, not just for those who love us in return, is only possible when we allow God to love others through us.  Without him, we cannot possible fulfill Christ’s command to love each other in the same was as he loved us.  Moreover, justice is almost a lost concept today.  We talk about fairness but God’s standard is justice.   The two are not synonymous.  Yet, Hosea instructs us to maintain justice and to do this we must have a consistent relationship with God.

Third, and this is the most difficult, we are told to wait for God always.  Waiting is never easy and it is never fun but it is always necessary!  In fact, the word “always” is the equivalent of the Maintenance Required light on our cars.  In the Christian walk, we are always in need of maintenance.  Daily, we must spend time alone with God and have ourselves checked over, adjusted, and tuned up by our Master Mechanic.  Only he can effect repairs and make adjustments that equip us to do his will daily.

What does the dashboard of your life look like today?  Are you paying attention to the little light that tells you maintenance is required?  Are you maintaining your contact with God?  Is everything in the proper working order today?  If not, how about going into the shop for a little required maintenance!