Pay Attention to the Little Warning Signs  

As I cranked my car, something didn’t sound quite right. In that brief second before the engine started, it sounded like it was struggling to get enough power to turn it over. Was it just my imagination? Over the next day or so, I made certain to listen more intently every time I turned the key in my vehicle. It definitely sounded like it could be getting close to a point of not cranking. Having been in situations before where I was stuck somewhere with a dead battery, I decided to go ahead and get it checked out. Sure enough, I was right. The battery was almost dead and needed to be replaced. For someone mechanically-challenged, I was thankful I had paid attention to the little warning signs and got the issue remedied before I faced the possibility of being unexpectedly stranded somewhere.

Likewise, when our relationship with the Lord is suffering in some way, there are often indications of a problem if we would just pay attention to them. Maybe I seem to be more impatient with people and quicker to lose my temper. Or I find myself not being as firm to resist temptation as I should be. Maybe I am starting to isolate myself and be more selfish about certain things. Or it may be that I find myself starting to view church attendance and personal devotional times more as burdensome duties than as a wonderful privilege that I enjoy. Or maybe I am just finding it more difficult to fit the things of God into my busy schedule. My burden for lost souls isn’t as deep. My prayer life seems to be degenerating into repeating meaningless phrases rather than a time of meaningful worship and fellowship. Sometimes it may just be a little feeling deep in my soul. Nobody else might notice it, but I sense that something simply isn’t clicking like it should be in my spiritual life. My love for the Lord, and consequently my love for other people, seem to be growing a little colder.

We haven’t turned our backs on God. Our spiritual battery hasn’t died out, at least not yet. We are still active in many of the spiritual disciplines we practice. We may still be busy driving down that highway of serving God in various ways. However, we see the little warning signs. Our spiritual life and power seem to be waning. It is more of a struggle to get our engine started. We sense a need for personal revival.

It can be tempting to ignore such signs. We tell ourselves that maybe it is nothing to be concerned about. However, if we don’t take care of the problem now, we may well find ourselves taking a bigger fall down the road. Therefore now is the time to seek God more diligently, to pray for Him to show us our specific need, and to yield ourselves more fully to Him. Take your issue to the Master Mechanic who made us and who can help us get back to functioning the way we were meant to.

Someone else driving my car may not have noticed anything wrong with it. However, I was familiar enough with my vehicle that I knew something didn’t sound as it should. Hopefully, you know how your heart and soul functions when you are walking close to the Lord. You know how your engine sounds when you are running in harmony with God’s will for your life and when the oil of the Holy Spirit is providing the power to help you serve effectively. Pay attention if something doesn’t seem quite right. Don’t put it off. Take it to the Lord. Trust Him to diagnose the problem and to help you get back on track.