Maintenance Required

Most anything we have in life; we have to take care of. There are few maintenance free things in the world since everything eventually wears out and has to be replaced. That is why while we have these things, we are required to take care of them so they work to their full potential.

Even as the seasons change, nature around us renews. The grass and trees become green in the spring, flourish in the summer, begin to die in the fall and fade away in the winter. During this process, there is maintenance required. We have to take care of the grass as it grows, cut it to keep it looking good, rake leaves in the fall and get ready in the winter to start all over again.

Psalm 34:14 “Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.”

Nothing is really exempted from requiring maintenance. Not even us. We require maintenance on our bodies from the time we are born. We have daily routines to take care of ourselves. We have annual checkups. Some of us go a step further and exercise, eat right and take care of our bodies in hopes of a long healthy life.

Some people overlook the maintenance we are required to do for God. The outside of anything or anyone can look good; however, the inside is what God wants us to really shine. We need to look at the last time we have done maintenance work on the inside.

A daily routine of prayer, Bible reading and talking to God throughout the day is a way to get started on our daily maintenance practice. God wants us to know how to act on the inside and not necessarily look good on the outside. Yes, He wants us to care for our bodies, but He also wants us to do maintenance on our minds.

When we take time to pray daily, we are creating a habit of talking to God about the things we are most conce
ed about. We talk to Him about the things going on in our lives. We talk to Him about the people we care about. We talk to Him and ask Him to show us what He wants us to do in our lives that will make a difference. When we take time to talk to God, we are giving Him our cares and conce
s so we can focus on doing what He wants us to do.

When we take time to read God’s word daily, we are finding out more about Him. We are learning how other people handled situations similar to ours. We are learning about His laws and His will. We are learning about the guidelines He has set for us in our daily lives so we will know how to act and treat others. When we put these things first in our minds in the morning, we will be better prepared for the day.

When we make it a daily practice to do the required maintenance on our minds as well as our bodies, our faith in God will become stronger. If we practice daily maintenance, when trials come our way our faith in God will show through. When we are obedient to God and doing what He asks of us daily, we will be able to maintain our faith showing others God is working in our lives and He wants to work in their lives as well.

Revelation 14:12 “This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.”

When we talk to God throughout the day and think about His word we have read, we are maintaining good thoughts so we can stay prepared when temptation comes. When we go to Him during the day asking Him to help us with situations, we are able to continue on as He wants us to. We are training our thoughts and patterns to be what He wants rather than what we desire.

Ephesians 4:23 “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.”

Renewal is not a one-time process. Renewal is constant. We have to work daily at allowing the Spirit to renew our thoughts and attitudes. It won’t come easy for us to do this on our own. The things of the world will get to us. Satan will be waiting to tempt us. That is why renewal is required daily. It is part of our maintenance to ensure we are doing things daily for God and to ensure we are making a difference.