Focal passage: 1 John 2:12-17; 3:16-18
When I was 15 years old, my father brought home an old 1970 Camaro.
It had a lot of surface rust, the front windshield was cracked, the side window was gone and there was about six inches of water in the floorboard along with leaves and fishing tackle. He paid $100 for the car, and told me it would be mine when I turned 16.
In many ways, that car was the best gift my dad could have given me.
He helped me work on it, and I learned to take something in really bad shape and make something really nice out of it.
For months, we worked together, so it would be ready to drive when the time came.
The day I turned 16, God taught me a valuable lesson. I got home from getting my license, and I went straight to the gas station to fill up the car. As I was turning into the store, a good friend was walking inside and I began waving to him. Not looking where I was going, I ran right into the concrete steel post that protected the gas pump.
It completely destroyed the right front fender of my newly restored car. I was so upset. I didn’t even get gas and went back home to tell my parents. They were very kind, because they knew I had worked so hard to make the car nice.
From that experience, I learned two valuable lessons.
First, pay attention when you are driving. Second, earthly possessions cannot ultimately satisfy you.
Even though I was a Christian when I wrecked my car, I had let restoring that car consume my life.
It was all I thought about for months. When I had the accident, it woke me up to the reality that earthly things will not last, and if I was not careful, they can compete for God’s rightful place on the throne of my life. Only God’s love can truly satisfy the longing of our hearts.
What about you? Do you have anything competing for God’s love in your life?