It happened in July, 2005. I was driving my son’s late model Toyota Corolla from the airport in Kansas City to our home in Manhattan, Kansas. For months I had ignored the illuminated “check oil” gauge as I drove the two-hundred mile round trip from our house to the airport. I kept thinking I would get around to it. Unfortunately, I never got around to it.
I will tell you that it’s quite an experience having your car engine blow into hundreds of little pieces while driving 75 mph down the highway! It all happened so fast – a loud bang, black smoke, and the sound of metal (lots of metal) hitting the pavement.
Grace is like the oil that lubricates the working parts of your engine. Without the lubricating oil of grace things lock up, then heat up, and finally blow up!
The same thing happens in our relationships at home or at church. When grace is abundant we get along. The little things don’t upset us. We turn the other cheek. We gladly go the second mile. Forgiveness flows and love abounds when there’s grace. But when grace is absent in a home or church, watch out! Friction builds. Tempers flare. Attitudes go bad. Hurtful words are spoken and damage is done.
Have you ever noticed how many of Paul’s letters to the churches open and close with the statement, “Grace be unto you,” or something like that? Paul understood the necessity of grace in a church. With all of the different working parts that go into a church, with all of the different people, personalities, ideas, and opinions, the only way it can happen is by the lubricating grace of God.
So may God make all grace abound toward you (2 Corinthians 9:8). And may God make all grace abound toward River of Life. Let the lubricating oil of the Holy Spirit be at work in all of our relationships.
Pastor Todd Weston
I will tell you that it’s quite an experience having your car engine blow into hundreds of little pieces while driving 75 mph down the highway! It all happened so fast – a loud bang, black smoke, and the sound of metal (lots of metal) hitting the pavement.
Grace is like the oil that lubricates the working parts of your engine. Without the lubricating oil of grace things lock up, then heat up, and finally blow up!
The same thing happens in our relationships at home or at church. When grace is abundant we get along. The little things don’t upset us. We turn the other cheek. We gladly go the second mile. Forgiveness flows and love abounds when there’s grace. But when grace is absent in a home or church, watch out! Friction builds. Tempers flare. Attitudes go bad. Hurtful words are spoken and damage is done.
Have you ever noticed how many of Paul’s letters to the churches open and close with the statement, “Grace be unto you,” or something like that? Paul understood the necessity of grace in a church. With all of the different working parts that go into a church, with all of the different people, personalities, ideas, and opinions, the only way it can happen is by the lubricating grace of God.
So may God make all grace abound toward you (2 Corinthians 9:8). And may God make all grace abound toward River of Life. Let the lubricating oil of the Holy Spirit be at work in all of our relationships.
Pastor Todd Weston
