Years ago we had a church in our area that had an interesting message on the kiosk in the front yard. It said, “Don’t treat your faith like a spare tire in the trunk, only to be used in time of emergency”. The first few times I drove by the church, I did not think much of it. However, one snowy day when traffic was slow, I passed the church again. All of a sudden, I got it. That was exactly the way that I had been treating my faith. It was in the trunk, out of the way, to be used in time of emergency.
I had not thought about that kiosk for years until a few
summers ago when I was at an Alpha conference in the Twin Cities. During one of the
talks, the pastor told of Christians who were “CEC Christians” – Christmas,
Easter and Crisis. That was me for years. My faith was something that I
practiced for an hour or so on some Sundays, Christmas, Easter and when I was
in trouble.
I made a commitment to myself and to God that I was going to
take my faith out of my trunk and put it under the hood of my life. Rather than
use it only in emergencies and special occasions, it was going to drive
everything I did in my life. It was out in front of me. It was now the heart of
everything I did in my life. Could I still use it in emergencies? Absolutely -
but also for so much more.
Having your faith under the hood does not mean that it will
not run out of gas – it will. Mine has. However, we are given the opportunity to keep our
tank filled up by daily reading of the Word, frequent prayer time, fellowship
with other Christians, and yes, weekly worship time.
I think it is good for anybody to determine what location
our faith is in. Is it hidden behind to be used as a last resort? Or is in
front, driving us in everything that we do.
Thank you to whomever in that church put that kiosk up years
ago that planted this seed in my heart.
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