Confession
Psalm 51
Saturday morning, 10:30 a.m. I’m laying flat on my back on the driveway, staring up at the underside of my aging Ford Windstar. I am really happy. This is as good as it gets. I have a clean oil filter sitting next to me and I have my wrenches and I feel like a man because I’m getting ready to change my own oil.
Nope. I don’t need some high school kid from my local Swifty Lube to change it for me and then make me feel guilty for not buying the new wiper blades. I’m a man! I can do his job for half the cost and I’ll make sure my plug gets put back in the oil pan the right way.
I look over at the feet standing at the front of the car. They’re speaking to me.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
What could she possibly mean by that? I’ve done this dozens of times. Every time she asks the same question. It’s as if I’ve let her down before or I’ve previously broken some things that I was trying to fix. Okay, maybe that’s happened, but I’m better off because of it. I’m older now. I break less stuff. I’m changing my own oil. Don’t ruin my moment.
“Yes, honey. I know what I’m doing. In fact, send the boys out here. They need to see how to do this!”
If you’ve never changed your own oil before, it isn’t brain surgery. But there is a crucial moment in the process that can make the oil change either reasonably clean or really messy. It is the time when the oil plug is just about to come completely out. That is the point when the (usually warm or hot) oil is going to shoot out and you have to anticipate where it is going to land and get the drain pan properly placed. Also, if you are a fumble-fingered fool, you can very easily drop the plug into the pan of hot oil. If either happens, your body and your wife’s driveway will probably end up covered in oil. Now, if you won’t tell my wife, I’m going to be honest with you…most of the time I end up covered in oil. I get the driveway messy and I don’t even save that much money. The satisfaction of doing it myself is occasionally lost in the moments that I’m scrubbing the oil stains from the driveway with Comet and a scrub brush.
Since birth, many of us have been trained in the fine art of self-reliance. We are told how to do many tasks of life all by ourselves and we revel in attempting to do them. We are shown how to be independent and strong, how to conquer through adversity, how to survive in the world of business, how-to, how-to, how-to…
God appreciates our self-reliance and a good work ethic. (Prov. 13:4) But He doesn’t want us to carry it as far as many of us have. We have cordoned off our lives and told everyone to “Keep Out” including God. But God wishes to be a part of your efforts and he longs to be involved in your mistakes. You are going to get your life messy and dirty and at times the oil of your labor is going to drain all over you and you will look and feel and be, bad. Doing things your own way will sometimes cause you to sin. Your heart will feel black as night and your thoughts will be impure and your words will be garbage. Those times are when Jesus Christ will be there to clean up your mess. He is the King of Restoration and the Chief Mechanic of the Garage. There is nothing you have done that can make you un-washable. But getting clean takes breaking the rule of self-reliance. It takes confession. And it takes a heart that desires to be holy.
Confession humbles us. And that’s a good thing! When I’m humble and I come to a difficult moment, I can envision God alongside me, asking, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” More often now, as I get older, I just say, “No. I really don’t. Can you lend me a hand?”
Saturday morning, 10:30 a.m. I’m laying flat on my back on the driveway, staring up at the underside of my aging Ford Windstar. I am really happy. This is as good as it gets. I have a clean oil filter sitting next to me and I have my wrenches and I feel like a man because I’m getting ready to change my own oil.
Nope. I don’t need some high school kid from my local Swifty Lube to change it for me and then make me feel guilty for not buying the new wiper blades. I’m a man! I can do his job for half the cost and I’ll make sure my plug gets put back in the oil pan the right way.
I look over at the feet standing at the front of the car. They’re speaking to me.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
What could she possibly mean by that? I’ve done this dozens of times. Every time she asks the same question. It’s as if I’ve let her down before or I’ve previously broken some things that I was trying to fix. Okay, maybe that’s happened, but I’m better off because of it. I’m older now. I break less stuff. I’m changing my own oil. Don’t ruin my moment.
“Yes, honey. I know what I’m doing. In fact, send the boys out here. They need to see how to do this!”
If you’ve never changed your own oil before, it isn’t brain surgery. But there is a crucial moment in the process that can make the oil change either reasonably clean or really messy. It is the time when the oil plug is just about to come completely out. That is the point when the (usually warm or hot) oil is going to shoot out and you have to anticipate where it is going to land and get the drain pan properly placed. Also, if you are a fumble-fingered fool, you can very easily drop the plug into the pan of hot oil. If either happens, your body and your wife’s driveway will probably end up covered in oil. Now, if you won’t tell my wife, I’m going to be honest with you…most of the time I end up covered in oil. I get the driveway messy and I don’t even save that much money. The satisfaction of doing it myself is occasionally lost in the moments that I’m scrubbing the oil stains from the driveway with Comet and a scrub brush.
Since birth, many of us have been trained in the fine art of self-reliance. We are told how to do many tasks of life all by ourselves and we revel in attempting to do them. We are shown how to be independent and strong, how to conquer through adversity, how to survive in the world of business, how-to, how-to, how-to…
God appreciates our self-reliance and a good work ethic. (Prov. 13:4) But He doesn’t want us to carry it as far as many of us have. We have cordoned off our lives and told everyone to “Keep Out” including God. But God wishes to be a part of your efforts and he longs to be involved in your mistakes. You are going to get your life messy and dirty and at times the oil of your labor is going to drain all over you and you will look and feel and be, bad. Doing things your own way will sometimes cause you to sin. Your heart will feel black as night and your thoughts will be impure and your words will be garbage. Those times are when Jesus Christ will be there to clean up your mess. He is the King of Restoration and the Chief Mechanic of the Garage. There is nothing you have done that can make you un-washable. But getting clean takes breaking the rule of self-reliance. It takes confession. And it takes a heart that desires to be holy.
Confession humbles us. And that’s a good thing! When I’m humble and I come to a difficult moment, I can envision God alongside me, asking, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” More often now, as I get older, I just say, “No. I really don’t. Can you lend me a hand?”
posted by 1daymore at
9:31 AM
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