Am I in Need of Maintenance?

August 21, 2024

We all know it. Regular maintenance is recommended on almost anything we own. Doesn’t have to be a machine with moving parts either. Regular maintenance is needed to keep physical things from deteriorating quickly and to last as long as they are intended. It probably won’t make something last forever, but it will make it last longer.

Parts of the house need painting every so often. Windows need washing. Gutters need cleaning. Trees and shrubs need pruning.

Machines need it even more. Change the oil in the car. Replace the brakes, windshield wipers, filters, and tires at regular intervals.

If you purchase a new lawnmower, you’ll see that more than likely the owner’s manual will recommend maintenance on certain items at the following intervals… 8 hours, first 10 hours, 20, 40, 100, 200, and 500 hours.

I’ve only listed a very few items we deal with in our lives, but if you add them all up—that’s a lot of time spent on maintenance.

If you’ve read more than one or two of my blog posts, you know where I’m going with this.

Our bodies need maintenance, too.

We need all kinds of maintenance. We need physical, mental, social, and spiritual maintenance.

I’d like to hit on the spiritual maintenance we need to help us last through life the way we are intended.

Am I in Need of Maintenance? #hope #joy #writingcommunity Share on X

I researched Scripture to see what spoke to me on the topic of maintenance. I landed on a passage that isn’t prescriptive but more instructive. In other words, to me these verses don’t set given intervals, timing, or specific directives as much as they assess the impact of the things I’m doing.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” (James 1:22-24, ESV)

So, in reading this, I ask myself. Am I praying enough? Reading my Bible enough? Spending time talking to God enough? Fellowshipping with my fellow believers enough?

In asking those questions, I’m looking for the answer to be… “I am if what I’m doing is making a difference.”

Am I growing closer to God? Do I know Him better? Am I serving my neighbor more? Does my behavior glorify God? Am I better armed to fight the devil?

If my answers are positive, then great, I’m on the right track with my maintenance.

If not, then I’m clearly in need of maintenance. How about you?

Let’s give some thought to those questions and determine if we’re in need of maintenance.