In Need of Repair

I do the best I can to take care of our vehicles, but sometimes it just seems like things pile up and "pile on" as far as repairs. In the past week I have spent several hundred dollars getting things fixed on my wife's Explorer that were in dire need of repair. Now it's not that I'm irresponsible, but in the past I did have a way of letting the little things go. I've come to find, though, that many of those things that don't seem so big at the moment can get big in a hurry.
Such was the case last year when I let the "check engine" light stay lit for a few months, ignoring it. Some people would say that the little orange (or red) light coming on isn't that big of a deal, as long as things seem to be running okay. That was how I felt about it. The Explorer ran just fine – until one day, it didn't.

I was pulling a trailer with our booth setup for a bridal show we were part of. About half way during the 70 mile trip to Chattanooga, the Explorer suddenly lost most of its power. I managed to get the Explorer to limp down the road to the next town. When I made a quick assessment of things, I realized that there was nothing I could do to repair it at the moment, so the best I could do was keep on limping down the interstate at a miserly pace of 35 mph. Oh how I wish I had checked the light out!

From that experience I have decided not to mess around with those sorts of things any more. Even though it cost me a few hundred dollars this time, it's worth it in my mind to have a vehicle that functions properly. The peace of mind is priceless. Now, at the first sign of an odd sound or a warning light, I will check out the problem. If it needs fixing, to the best of my ability I will attempt to repair it (or take it to someone who can). I no longer turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to problems that need to be addressed. It is the only way I know that I will have a vehicle that will serve me faithfully.

When we turn to 2 Chronicles 29:3, one of the first things we see that Hezekiah did when he came to power is open the doors to the house of the Lord, repair them, and then proceed to clean out the temple and prepare it for service to God (vs. 16-18). He set about putting things back in order and fixing things that were broken so that God could be served in the proper way. But notice why he had to do all of that work in the first place; he says the following:

"For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs." – 2 Chronicles 29:6

We see this happening in the previous chapter when Ahaz, a wicked king, shuts up the doors to the temple as he begins making sacrifices to idols (28:24). It's as though Ahaz, and those who joined him, simply wanted to put all of the problems they probably knew needed to be fixed out of their minds, and forget about them. They turned their backs on God, and failed to see all of the things in need of repair. We even seen from verse 24 that Ahaz went to the point of destroying things that belonged to the temple, thus creating even more things in need of repair. It was all of these things that Hezekiah and the Levites came along and fixed later.

We need to do periodically in our own lives what Hezekiah and the Levites did for the temple and in service to God. We know that we can't serve God to the best of our abilities if we have problems that need to be addressed. If someone has a problem with sin in their life, or has just simply become unfaithful like Ahaz did, they need to realize that there is no way they can be pleasing to God and serve Him properly with those things floating over their head. In fact, that sin causes them to be separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2), and any attempt to serve God in this state will not be well received by Him (see Proverbs 15:8; fix things first, Matthew 5:23-24). Continuing to ignore the problems associated with sin will not make them vanish. Sin needs to be met head on, and fixed. For the non-Christian, that means obedience to the gospel plan of Salvation. For the Christian, that means repentance (Acts 8:22) confession (1 John 1:9), and prayer (Acts 8:22; James 5:16).

Let us all take stock, and examine ourselves (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:5). If we need to fix something, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to it. Fix it now so that it doesn't get any worse, and get to serving God in a right relationship with Him!