By Chris Blacksmith
Pickup trucks are great vehicles to own. Look at how versatile they are. You can haul boats, four-wheelers, tractors, lawn equipment or lumber. I think you get the idea. Trucks are just like any other vehicle, though in that, they tend to break down at the most inopportune times.
Imagine being on Interstate 40 with your truck loaded down with a side-by-side and a deer blind, when suddenly, the check engine light illuminates. No big deal, that light stays on all the time in most vehicles, right? Wrong. This time a message scrolls across the screen that says, “Reduced Engine Speed.” Suddenly your truck goes into “limp mode” and you top out at a whopping two miles per hour. The problem all boils down to a broken wire that carries a signal to the TPS (throttle position sensor). Everything that makes the sensor work is there. The sensor is still intact, the clip is still fixed to the TPS and the voltage is still being supplied to the broken wire.
Our spiritual lives are a lot like that old truck. We have everything we need. We have a great church family, a great youth program for our kiddos and a strong faith in the Lord. What more could we ask for?
According to James, we are like the truck with the broken TPS wire if our faith isn’t accompanied by works. James says, in James 2:14, 17 (ESV) “what good is it, my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but no deeds? Can such faith save them? …faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
We put ourselves in spiritual limp mode when we have inactive faith. The challenge is to plug into the OBD (onboard diagnostics) of God’s Word and allow Him to clear our faulty sensors. Then we can begin to put our faith into action and allow God to use us for His glory.
