Vehicles Deteriorate

A few years after Audrey and I were married we acquired some sheep and cattle grazing land. However one side of the property had no boundary fence so in order to keep the stock in, and the rabbits out, we had to fence it with a rabbit netting fence and as the bottom 6 inches of the netting had to be buried in the ground we had to plough a furrow.  We couldn’t afford a tractor so we used our model M.B. Army Jeep. Audrey drove it in first gear, low range and four wheel drive whilst I handled the Britstand road plough behind it for a couple of miles. That Jeep was a remarkable vehicle, built in the U.S.A. in 1942 it was almost unstoppable. However time has taken its toll on both it and me. It cannot now pull a plough and I cannot now control a plough either, as my heart would object.

With a lot of repair the Jeep could still be useful and is certainly a collector’s item. I’m afraid the same cannot be said of me though; with some repairs, from time to time, I can still be of some use but some day I will have no choice but to abandon my worn out frame. Eventually the same will apply to you too, And we won’t be collector’s items either, but to use a modern expression, “it’s all good” (as far as I’m concerned anyway) because I’ve got a new Spiritual body waiting for me and I’m booked into a place in Heaven.  (My hope is that you have sorted this out too because it is very comfortable to know that your future is assured).The bible puts it like this: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”1 Corinthians 2:9 & Isaiah 64:4). When we accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus we know that when this “vehicle” we are travelling in “gives up” it will be replaced by a better one. Now that is a good outcome.

We all need to get our priorities and relative values right. The Jeep was for my benefit around the farm so I fuelled it, oiled it, greased it and serviced it so that it would operate satisfactorily and that was commonsense. However, if I had spent every moment of each day doing that and studying a mechanics course to the extent that I forgot to eat, and neglected my own health, people would have described me as some sort of weird fanatic. And they would have been right, after all the Jeep was there to serve me; I wasn’t there to serve it.

Similarly my physical body was given to me as my mode of transport for my soul (the real me, the one who is using this body to type this page). Now, as I am confined to this body for the present it is logical that I feed it and generally try to keep it in good order, (as I did with the Jeep). Nevertheless it is just a temporary mode of transport so to spend all my time thinking about and looking after it whilst neglecting the real me inside it, would also be the action of a weird fanatic.

What is the answer then? Well early in life I had my priorities wrong and had broken God’s Commandments whilst in this physical body and that is called sin, and sinners don’t get outfitted with a Spiritual body that will make it to Heaven. Indeed “The wages of sin is death”, (Romans 6:23) But thank God “The gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Therefore I have decided to get my priorities right, by asking God for forgiveness, and am looking after the real me (my Soul) by endeavouring to do, and think the way the New Testament tells me to, (which is really what the word “Repenting” amounts to), because of that I am assured of Eternal life (not as a “Collector’s item” either) but as a Citizen in The Kingdom of God.

I’m Just writing this to remind anyone who may not have considered it, that we should all do this as the Bible says “It is not His will that any person should perish”.  Isn’t that great? But Jesus also said “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it”. (Matthew 7:13). Now of all the sad things there are, that has to be the saddest, because to “enter the narrow gateway” is so simple. We just have to “believe on the Lord Jesus,” (Acts 16:31) and then accept the way of life that is set out in the New Testament because doing that confirms our sincerity, and really gives meaning to our present life. On the other hand, to refuse to enter that “narrow gate” (for whatever reason) is spiritual suicide.

Best wishes as you think about that, if you haven’t already done so.  Tom.