Listen To The Pings!
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles, uncategorized
After getting stocked up on some groceries and putting them in the trunk of my car yesterday afternoon, I unlocked my car, opened the door, and heard a “ping, ping, ping, ping, ping” sound. That sound should have alerted me as to something not being quite right with my car, but it didn’t register in my brain.
When I put my ignition key in the ignition and turned the key, I heard absolutely nothing from my engine. I turned the ignition key again, and still nothing. Then, I looked down at the steering column and immediately saw what I had done. When turning off the engine in the parking lot, I had failed to put the car in Park mode, and had instead left the car in Reverse mode.
The car engine will not start in Reverse mode.
The pings were alerting me to the fact that I had done something wrong, and that I needed to go through a checklist of what I had done incorrectly after I had parked the car (or thought I had parked the car).
Similarly, God provides us with various pings (or warnings) throughout the New Testament, alerting us that when we find our spiritual engines [lives] not starting, we need to examine our lives in light of the New Testament (2 Corinthians 13:5), to see what we have done incorrectly, causing our spiritual lives to be in Reverse mode from God’s will (Isaiah 1:4; Jeremiah 7:23-24).
Our spiritual engine will not start in Reverse mode.
One of those “pings” (warnings) is found in Hebrews 3:12, where the Hebrew writer warns us:
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”
When we depart from the living God, our spiritual lives immediately go into Reverse mode and our engines won’t start (2 Timothy 4:10; cf. 1 John 2:15).
The solution to our spiritual engine [life] not starting, is found in the very next verse:
“but exhort [encourage] one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
When we place our spiritual lives in Park mode, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….” (Hebrews 12:2), we can rest assured that our spiritual engine will start every time.
Brethren, in our spiritual walk, let us be aware of those “ping, ping, ping, ping, ping” sounds, alerting us that something is wrong with our spiritual engine [life], and it needs immediate attention and correction through applying God‘s inspired word (2 Timothy 3:16-17, so that it might continue running properly.
Listen to the pings!