the dirty car

February 9, 2003

i meant to write about this a while ago, but it sorta slipped my mind :)

a few days ago, i was driving somewhere and i saw a car that was so dirty at the back of the car that you could no longer read the license plate what-so-ever! it was completely covered with filth! i don't think i've ever seen a car THAT dirty.

how does so much dirt accumulate on a car you ask? it's easy. you NEVER wash it. most people can't stand a dirty car. if you were trying to sell your car, do you think you'd let all this dirt pile up on it? of course not. you'd shine it up, maybe give it a good wax job! you'd want to present it as best as you can.

i was thinking about that image that i saw. it was like a picture of what happens when we sin. idealistically we should be in right fellowship with Christ moment by moment. but eventually, we all sin. and our relationship becomes distorted/broken. if we don't do anything about it, our relationship deteriorates all the more, and we become further away from Him. fortunately for us, our relationship will never "disappear" like the license plate, but it can deteriorate/become distorted like it.

so when you sin, don't let it accumulate till the day's end. repent, ask for forgiveness. restore your fellowship with Creator God right then and there!

i think this analogy could go one step further. our sin also interferes with the image of Christ we portray to people. whenever i've sinned and didn't repent immediately, i'd be in a bad mood for the rest of the day, maybe snapping at people for no apparent reason. definitely not being a good image of Christ at all. and this happens because of my broken fellowship with Him.

we are Christ ambassador's to the world. we are "little Christs" to people. and in some cases, we may be the only image of Christ that people have ever seen (that's an absolutely INCREDIBLE thought and scary too!). so if we are bearing a bad image of Him, what kind of witness are we? we'd want to present the best possible image of Christ to the world! why? because He deserves nothing less. in fact, He deserves way more. we don't do Him justice. not even REMOTELY close.

"live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 peter 2:12 [niv])

let's take the advice of paul and live such sold out lives for Christ that people have no choice but to glorify God :)

Posted by Leo Chan at February 9, 2003 11:19 PM