Continually Examine & Maintain Yourself – Physically and Spiritually

Word-Of-The-Day:  ‘(23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror (24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  (25) But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.’ (James 1:23-25)

For some reason, my thoughts recently went back to an American Pickers episode where the pickers were rummaging through a person’s tree-filled field, and underneath one of the tree was an old 1960’s-era panel van, with ‘Aerosmith’ on the side and a hippie-looking dude in the ‘Keep on Truckin‘ pose drawn beside it. (It could have been because I had heard either Aerosmith’s ‘Draw the Line’ or ‘Dream On’ – or both – on the radio the day before.)

The pickers did some research and found this was the original ‘touring’ van of the now-megahit group, back when they first started out and playing in small clubs and neighborhood venues, so they bought the van. The van was in very rough shape; it’s frame was almost gone, and the lower section of the body was rusted and very brittle. It had been sitting for a long time in this field before it was rediscovered and retrieved.

The van was taken to a garage where the process started to restore it to a ‘worthy-of-display’ condition. Professional car restorers were brought in, and a second van of the same model – with a good frame and engine – was found and purchased to be the ‘donor’. The original body was placed on the ‘donor’ frame, and the rotted body parts were replaced with new metal. The ‘donor’ engine was rebuilt and installed, and the mural on the side was preserved while paint matching the ‘patina’ covered the areas with new metal.

The van eventually made its way to Las Vegas, where the van was driven to be reunited with Aerosmith, who had just started a residency at one of the hotels there. It likely cost a considerable sum of money to get their old van back up and running again, to a condition where it was no longer junk and falling apart, but one where they could sit in it and reminisce about their beginnings while driving place to place in that van.

While it was great to see that van restored and returned to the group, it has to be said that had that van been maintained from the very beginning, and preventive maintenance done along the way, it would not have needed such a lengthy effort (it took almost a year to restore it) and at such a cost of money and resources to bring it back to a road-worthy condition.

Parking it in a field and ignoring it wasn’t good for the van. It may not have needed stored in a garage or barn; but occasionally driving it, changing its oil, spot repairs on the rust and so forth could have alleviated much of the need for restoration and perhaps would have stop or greatly slowed down its deterioration.

We are like that van. There is a need for preventive maintenance for us physically. Part of what James 1:23-25 states is for the physical aspects of our bodies; look in the mirror and see yourself. By looking in the mirror, you may see the need to trim some hair or wash a stain off your face. We may find a spot or a mark on our skin that needs a dermatologist to examine. (Yes, I do look in the mirror, and though I don’t trim my hair or beard I do trim the mustache when I see its over the lip.)

But James 1:23-25 is mostly talking of the need for preventive maintenance for our Spirituality. If we don’t continually look into the Spiritual mirror, we may begin to ignore shortcomings or flaws in the preparation of our Faith. A bad habit may develop, and in failing to spot the problem, perhaps a hobby that becomes an obsession that pulls us away from Christ and our obedience to Him, the problem will grow until it takes a great effort and resources to resolve it, at a much greater cost and a greater amount of time.

Just like having secular hope (‘I hope my roof don’t leak’) our Spiritual Hope (‘I hope to one day spend my days with Jesus’) needs to have action.  You can make Hope into reality today, and spend your days with Jesus here without waiting for Eternity to arrive by doing the work he’s asked all of us to do. 

Sometimes it’s not about us, but about others around us that may need ‘spot-checked’. If we ignore telling a friend about a spot on their skin that looks off, it may turn out to have been a spot of melanoma that will spread and become much more involved to treat – perhaps to the point where it is untreatable.

Sharing the Gospel is universal to all Christians.  If you find yourself saying ‘I hope ‘good old Willie’ finds Jesus’, you may need to take action to bring that hope into a reality.  It can be direct (you go to Willie’s door, knock on it and lay some Gospel on him) or set up a passive message (‘Willie, you should watch ‘Merry Christmas Charlie Brown’, and listen to Linus’ monologue on what Christmas really means’) and be ready to discuss. 

With Hope and Faith comes action or it will sit and eventually be taken over with other things until it’s almost impossible to act.  If it’s something personal you feel the need to accomplish, act now before it becomes a matter of ‘time’s up!’ and you can’t (or aren’t able to). 

It’s never impossible, though.  Like the Aerosmith van episode of American Pickers, it was almost rusted away and almost unsalvageable.  But the pickers recovered it and with great effort restored it to running condition and returned it to Aerosmith at their Las Vegas venue.  However, it took far more effort than it would have if only someone has taken care of it when it was first parked.  Don’t wait for Hope to act on its own, take action now and the effort may be far easier than it would be to wait.