I love riding my motorcycle. I enjoy
the freedom and the relaxation it provides. My only problem is I don’t get to
ride as much as I want. I am blessed that my wife loves to ride too. As I write
this, we are planning on taking the bike out tomorrow and going for a ride just
to get away from it all for a while. I can’t wait. It's been too long.
But before I can enjoy the ride
tomorrow I have to clean and polish the bike. You see, it’s been sitting for a
while and it has gotten a little dirty. Unfortunately, that has become the norm
for my black beauty.
When I purchased her, straight off
the showroom floor, she was all sparkly and clean. I rode her home and
immediately put her in the garage. I didn’t want anything to tarnish her look. After
every ride I would wipe her down, even using a Qtip in the hard to reach places
to make sure I got every bit of road grime and dirt off my new found love. When
I was finished I would put the cover over her and put her back in the garage.
After a while it got to be too
much work to take such good care of her so I just started wiping her down when I
could see obvious spots of dirt or road film. I still kept her in the garage
but started leaving the cover off. I would do a halfhearted job of cleaning her
then when I was riding I would see spots that I missed. Nobody else could see
those spots but I knew they were there.
I have since moved from that home
into another one that does not have a garage. She now sits under my carport,
sometimes covered, but seldom babied and pampered like she should. Now, before I
can ride her in public I must get her cleaned up again. It will be hard because
I should have been taking care of her all along. Now I have to make up for a
lot of laziness on my part.
That is the way it is with our
lives as well. When we first get saved we take every precaution to make sure we
do not get the dirt and road grime of life on our new found love. When we did,
we would immediately jump into action and take the steps necessary to restore
it back to the way it should be.
Then, as the years wear on, we
get a dose of laziness. We tolerate a little more dirt and grime. We fail to do
the preventive measures to ensure that our lives are presentable and worthy of
claiming Christ. Romans 12 tells us to present our bodies “as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God” – and here’s the kicker – “which is your spiritual worship.”
(ESV)
So, how’s your ride? Do you need
to roll up your sleeves and maybe even get a Qtip and get those hard to reach
areas of your life cleaned up? Have you been “cleaning your ride” halfheartedly
leaving spots that only you know about? If so, use this weekend to provide some
TLC to your ride. Then you can have something to be proud of and worthy of
showing off…a life worthy of claiming Christ.
Kickstands up – let’s ride!
