Mechanic

You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. (Lamentations 3:58)

A week ago today, I was invited to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meeting in celebration of a friend's sobriety anniversary. I had never attended a meeting like this before but I had a good idea of what to expect. Some of the men and women in attendance shared their life stories, mainly focused around their struggles with alcohol addiction. A few of them were followers of Christ and gave glory to Jesus for helping them overcome addiction and sin. So as I sat there listening to every story of redemption, the LORD began to impress upon me His goodness. He began to show me, through the speakers, His grace and mercy. The LORD left me that night and all week thinking about the very nature of His profession. God is not just our Creator, He is our Redeemer too. He is a mechanic for the soul.

God likes to fix things, in particular, us. Take me, for example. By the time I was 18, I had my eyes set on two things: 1) Women and 2) Pleasure. From my erroneous perspective, God existed as a resource for me to get what I wanted. He existed as a janitor for the messes I would create. He was a power that I couldn't yet wrap my mind around completely, nor did I have time to. I was too busy and consumed with making myself happy with things that I thought would make me happy. To keep this short, I was a lost and broken soul. I needed a spiritual tune up. In fact, I think I needed a whole new engine, like my Dodge Neon did.

Yes, I had a Neon. What a piece of junk that thing was! Well, I digress, it served its purpose and I cannot be totally ungrateful. But it needed work, almost all the time. My passenger window kept breaking for no apparent reason. Some friends of mine even made a social media group poking fun at the car's defectiveness. The car eventually broke down completely in 2008-09. The repair was too much money so my parents and I decided to "gift it" to our mechanic. A week or two later, I'm pretty sure I saw it at the front of the mechanic's lot, repaired and for sale. One person's junk became another person's treasure.

Like that mechanic who repaired my Neon and resold it, God is able to see beyond our brokenness. He sees our full potential. I can just imagine Him thinking about 18-year-old me, "One day I will be able to redirect this young man's ambitions and use his talent for something of eternal value." I wasn't able to see it then, but I look back and see it now.

Source: Reader's Digest

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

No matter how broken you are and no matter how distant from God, you are worthy and able to be redeemed. Redemption is no joke, either. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, God comforts us so we can comfort others. You see, He doesn't just fix us and lock us away, lest we break again. No, God fixes us with the intent of using us for His glory. I think about the men and women at the A.A. meeting and how I saw the LORD using the former addicts to help those that are still struggling. Likewise, God wants to use every other redeemed soul to redeem more souls.

If you look at the culture of the Western Church, I think we can do a better job embracing God's full plan of redemption. I think a lot of church leaders and Christians might be confused by this, but here's what I mean...

God's full plan on redemption doesn't end when the sinner repents and receives Jesus. In fact, it's not supposed to end at all. Once saved, the individual needs to be properly equipped to be able to lead others to Christ. I think where many Christians bow out is with 'the invite to church.' I used to think that if I just invited people to church, the message would convict and lead my guest to repentance. While that might happen sometimes, I think disciple creation is much more effective if we depend on more than just hoping people show up to a building.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

The misconception that exists in mind of many Christians is that they cannot be used by God to make new believers. They also may not want the responsibility. It might be too daunting of a task for them. They might not feel equipped - and they probably aren't because very few churches today emphasize this as part of discipleship. But if this is all true, can those people really say they have been redeemed?

Mechanics do not fix cars to leave them parked in garages. They fix cars so they can be driven. I just had someone come and repair my dryer. I did that because I want to use it again (a lot, because I have kids). Overall, God can use you. I don't care what your situation is or what your excuse is. There is no acceptable excuse to have knowledge of the reality of heaven and hell, salvation and condemnation, and choose to do nothing about it. God redeemed you (or wants to) so He can do something amazing with you to lead others to Christ!

I created this entire blog and website because I felt a holy burden in my soul to share the life saving truth about Jesus with anyone and everyone. If God can use an unordained, layperson like myself that didn't study theology in college, then He can use you!!!

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. (2 Timothy 2:20-21)