“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.” Hebrews 10:36
In 1977, Randy and I were serving in the small community of Newborn, Ga. which is about 18 miles from Covington. Newborn had one gas station, a blinking light, and a post office. We had to make the 36+ mile round trip to Covington every time we bought groceries, wanted to eat out, or needed to see a doctor.
It was about this time, when Randy decided that we needed a car which was economical and used less gas. I had a perfectly good car that ran great, looked nice outside and inside, and we owned it! Despite this, he found an old, ugly VW hatchback in the shop of a mechanic, and he decided to buy it with the money we made from selling my car!! The VW itself was ugly, dirty, and generally awful, but its major flaw was that it contained no engine! No, when we raised the hood, it was empty under there. The mechanic assured Randy that he could build us an engine and the car would be as good as new! That was a lie!
The mechanic rebuilt the engine, but he used old parts, inferior products, and cut every corner on assembly. A good engine is essential to a car – without it, you have no power, no energy, no speed, and no strength or endurance. Needless to say, the car was never reliable, and it spent more time in the shop than it did on the road. I can still feel a shudder when I think of that car!!
I began to equate this engine with the heart of a Christian. If you fill your heart with unkind thoughts, inferior actions, and cut corners in service to God, then your faith is unreliable. You don’t have the endurance necessary to finish your walk. We have to put the best things into our hearts to be able to keep up with the evil that we face every day. Sometimes it’s good to give our souls a strength, endurance and power check just like mechanics do for our cars.
The best day for us was when we sold that car! The best day for me is when I check in on my soul!