UNDER THE HOOD

….that He would grant you, according

to the riches of His glory, to be

strengthened with might through

His spirit in the inner man.

Ephesians 3:16

When I got out of college, I wanted in the worst way to get a car, a nice used car that I could call my own. It didn't look like a big problem in the selection of such because my Dad was about the best in our area when it came to automobile mechanics. He could sit on our front porch, a car pass by and he could tell you what was wrong with that car. The driver just didn't know it yet.

We looked at some cars. I usually liked the color and interior but my Dad went under the hood. He could tell in a moment that not one car we looked at was minus a problem, especially with the engine. Each car looked really good as far as I was concerned but my Dad with his expertise knew no matter how attractive the car, it probably wouldn't go very far for very long.

No matter how good some cars looked, any one of which I would like to have had, my Dad could lift up the hood of the car and point out to me already existing problems I would have to deal with. One car had a total break of the frame probably due to an accident. My Dad saw it immediately and pointed it out to me. The car sales place had spray painted the the entire frame of the car after welding and smoothing out the problem.

There are a lot of things that can be going on inside the hood of a used car. I was happy just looking at the shiny outside, radio and smooth car seats. The outside doesn't always tell the whole story. It's really more important to know what's going on under the hood.

It can be the same with we Christians. The outside can look pretty good. We look all polished spiritually while we know things aren't right under the hood of our lives. Under that hood can be real damage we refuse to deal with. Perhaps our spiritual engines are running low on fuel that comes only through the Holy Spirit filling us with His Word. We need the oil of God's anointing in our lives. Our inner needs may be great while we look polished and in tact on the outside.

Wouldn't hurt us anytime to do a spiritual maintenance check, not to impress anyone but for God's glory that we will operate to our fullest for Him.

Thank You Father for Your close presence in our lives...for Your Holy Spirit's prompting when we might need a little spiritual over-hauling. Thank You Jesus for all You mean to each of us individually. In Your precious name....Amen