Good Fuel

The road to the farm house next door to where I was staying passed within a 100 metres of us, so we could often see people coming and going. On the day in question, I knew the neighbours were not home so I took particular notice of a car that drove up toward their house and sheds. A short while later I observed it returning, well you couldn’t really miss it as the engine sounded like a chaff cutter and the car was completely enveloped in smoke. When they were adjacent to us they stopped and (although very embarrassed) asked for assistance to drain their petrol tank and also asked us to supply them with some petrol. You see the neighbour had an overhead fuel tank, so he could easily refuel his tractor, and these people thought they would top-up their car with petrol from it whilst he was away. Unfortunately for them though his fuel was diesel, not petrol, and they were lucky to be able to even make it back as far as our place. Vehicles require the fuel they were designed for and these people learned that the hard way!  I’ll come back to that in a minute.

You see this nice new car of mine? Well I always drove my previous car with my lights on during the day for safety reasons so naturally I did the same with this one and on the second day after I bought it, I parked it and left the lights on by mistake because it has a different system. Returning to it at 8.30pm I found the battery completely flat. (Very handy).

The two episodes above illustrate two very important principles that also apply to our lives: Firstly, cars, (like people), were designed to operate on a particular fuel and secondly they, (like us), also require their batteries to be re-charged on a regular basis: In the car if we want to use the headlights then we need to see to it that the Alternator is refilling the battery or the lights won’t last long and nothing else will work either. Likewise we were designed to be people who are loving, helpful, joyful, peaceful, patient, gentle and kind but without the Holy Spirit’s help we will never achieve that goal. Actually we are told to “pray without ceasing” as prayer connects us to God, the source of all life and power. Now if you haven’t been doing that it may sound a bit much, however just as the alternator never stops generating current for the battery whilst the engine is running, so we need to continually keep in touch with our power source who is our Heavenly Father as He has promised to guide and sustain us and give us wisdom. Furthermore if we commit our lives to Christ Jesus, God has assured us that His Holy Spirit will use our bodies as His temple, thus we don’t have to go far to find help. I’m not pushing some theory here but am writing from my own experience from following bible teaching.

Now you see these two young people? They are at the age when the “world is their Oyster”: Healthy young bodies and living in Australia where they have all the freedom and opportunities to achieve anything they wish. Then what is their problem? Well the girl may be just homeless due to Domestic Violence or such, but the boy has obviously chosen the wrong fuel for his body (like the people who drove their car to our neighbours place). It is so sad; he is surrounded by a world of lovely things and yet chose drugs. He may get help through “Life Line” and a period of rehab of course, but this situation should never have arisen. Nor should the girl be in that situation either.

If you are a parent or grandparent with the responsibility of bringing up young children and want them to avoid the situations illustrated above then you need to follow the instructions given by the one who designed them. Proverbs 22:6 says: “Bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he shall not depart from it” and thus they will learn to choose the right “fuel” and learn how to keep in touch with Jesus who said “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  The first 5 or 6 years are the most important and we need to pray with them, read them bible stories, take them to church and introduce them to Christian youth groups, because Deuteronomy 11:19 says (when talking of God’s commandments) “Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting at home, when you are out walking, at bedtime, and before breakfast!....so as long as there is sky above the earth, you and your children will enjoy the good life awaiting you....”.

Moses was guided by God to write these instructions thousands of years ago and they cannot be improved.  Best wishes with that,  Tom.