“[Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.”
C. S. Lewis from The Problem of Pain
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Matthew 23:27
Misdiagnosed
Have you ever gone in for car service or a health check-up only to be misdiagnosed? For months my check engine light has been on. I was told it was a part that really didn’t affect the running of the vehicle, so it could be ignored until I had extra funds to correct this issue. Then, I started having issues with the car not idling properly and then hesitating before accelerating. I took it in for an oil change thinking I had gotten bad gasoline, but then I was told it was a valve cover and purge solenoid. I got a second opinion, replaced one part, and then reset the computer warnings. This time it came up with a real warning: the intake manifold was faulty. Forget faulty, it was full of gunk. If I had allowed them to correct any of the other issues, they would have gone bad again because the root of the problem had not been diagnosed.
Root Problem
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Matthew 15:19
The inside of the intake manifold was nasty and full of gunk, for lack of a better word. Months of running the engine with a faulty part had caused a buildup. The one bad part had sent out false warnings. To be sure, the valve cover was broken because the other part had gone bad, but the original warning was a wild goose chase.
Sometimes in our spiritual lives we try to correct surface issues when the problem is actually much deeper. My bad attitude may stem from jealousy that I have not dealt with, or anger caused by unforgiveness. Trying to put on a fake smile doesn’t solve the problem and can eventually just make it worse.
Solution
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
If we want to truly correct the problem, we have to find the root problem. With my car, we needed to replace the bad part so that the rest of the parts would work as they should. In my spirit, I need to confess my jealousy or anger and ask God for forgiveness. Sometimes I have to forgive others who have wronged me so that I can move forward with a right attitude. However, this is not a one and done correction.
Maintenance Plan
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Proverbs 4:23
When they replaced the part, one person told me that it would probably have to be replaced after another 110,000 miles. The car requires continual maintenance for it to run properly. Our spirits also need a maintenance plan. Proverbs tells us to continually guard our hearts, which means a continual and habitual confession of sins if we are to keep ourselves aligned with God’s will.
I must admit my spiritual maintenance can be about as random as my car maintenance. I often ignore warning signs because I am afraid of what it will cost me to repair it, or other issues that seem more important. But my spiritual well-being should be a priority, and I’m still working on that, or should I say God is still working on me.
Do you have a maintenance plan?
I hear ya Ms. Linda, and have felt your pain ma’am. Recently had to replace one steering part that cost me twenty-five percent of what the entire vehicle cost me when I purchased it new. The problem I see with all these new computer-controlled autos is that computers only cascade problems, they don’t diagnose anything. One thing is reported faulty because the original (root cause of the problem) was never reported. The issues only grow until you have to do more repairs before you get to the point you can repair what the original problem was. Great faith lesson here ma’am.