Puncture Proof!
You know, I like some of these new-fangled inventions. The puncture-proof tire is one I like especially well. If you are driving along with ordinary tires, and a nail goes through them ---whis-s-s-s, you lose all the air. But a puncture-proof tire is different. If a nail goes through it, some stuff inside runs around and stops up the hole, and the air stays in.
You know, the heart of a Christian is like this puncture-proof tire. An ordinary heart may be filled with love, but when someone does something to it, all the love runs out, and hatred and hard feelings take its place. But a puncture-proof heart is different. It is filled with the spirit of Christ, and when someone, through words or deeds, punctures that heart, immediately the hole is stopped up tight, and the love stays in.
By: Marshall Keeble
The late brother Keeble could teach a lesson so simply that it was difficult not to understand! Here he used a simple analogy to drive his point home. Today there are many tire-sealants on the market, but the spirit of Christ is still the sealant for the Christian's heart.
Punctures can be avoided. We need to watch our tires and not allow them to wear too thin so that every time we face an obstacle they blow. The Christian with his threads bare and his cords strung too tight can lose his love at anytime. We should seek composure found only in the Lord...His spirit of meekness. Like Moses after he lost his composure and killed the Egyptian, we need to seek a quiet wilderness where we can commune with God through His word and prayer. The meekness that Moses strived to attain enabled him to deal daily with a rebellious people for 40 years! "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5).
Abuse will void any tire warranty...even the Christian's! Care is essential to longevity. The person who drives over every bottle and tin can he sees because he likes to hear them "pop" is likely to hear more than one thing go "pop"...then whis-s-s-s. Christians must avoid strife and controversy (not at the expense of truth). cf. 1 Timothy 1:3, 4; Proverbs 20:2, 3; 22:24, 25; 26:17. Unless one has extra-heavy duty tires, he should avoid landmines. Non-essential subjects that engender strife and important matters that have been adequately discussed should be left alone. cf. 1 Timothy 6:3-5. Repeated attempts to "drive-home" an unaccepted truth generally only lead to flaring tempers and punctured "tires." cf. Matthew 10:44. You may have heard a tire that an owner keeps driving on when flat. It goes "flop-flop-flop," creates a lot of heat, but it gets him nowhere!
It is important that our tires be puncture-proof, because lives are at stake: ours, our riders, and other drivers. Hateful, boisterous, argumentative, and unforgiving natures lead others to stumble into the same sin. cf. 1 Timothy 4:12. Our riders are depending on us for the proper example. Are we leading them down a road to destruction? cf. Ephesians 4:31, 31.
Have you checked your tires lately? Do you need more puncture-proofing? Are they thread-bare? Are you letting off too much hot air? Have they gone flat? Don't forget that lives are at stake. A warranty is involved. Let us possess the spirit of Christ, "who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." (1 Peter 2:23) cf. Eph. 4:26, 27.
Joe Spangler