Shiny and Bright

My son bought a brand new pickup truck about 7 years ago as his 1st vehicle, and it was shiny and bright. And every day the sun shone, he’d be outside cleaning it, working to remove all the dirt, both inside and out. And he drove it to school when he was younger, and now drives it to work as he is older. And the truck has had its share of excitement, hitting a tree; another year hitting a deer; being hit by a lady while standing at a traffic light, but each time, the truck went into the shop to be restored back to shiny and bright.

So for 7 years, he drove and polished, drove and polished, and has over 110k miles and growing. Everywhere he goes, people comment how shiny and bright his truck looks. And each year he’d have to sink some more money in keeping his truck running shiny and bright -- money for tires, money for a new clutch, for new wheel bearings, for new AC -- money to keep his truck running shiny and bright.

Yesterday, my son decided that the frame is too rusty, being not shiny and bright enough, so he took out his steel brush, and began to remove the scales of rust that has endured 7 years of winter, of salt and snow, of dirt and mud -- and he worked that frame ‘til it shook off the scales of time, and he painted the under carriage a nice shade of black, all shiny and bright.

So having spent a good deal of time working beneath his truck and with the sun shining, and his truck glowing in reflecting the flowers and bushes beside him along the driveway, he called me over to admire his ‘baby’, sitting in the driveway, all shiny and bright. ‘Look dad, look at the paint, don’t it look good?’ ‘Why yes it does’ I stated in reply. ‘Then dad, look inside at the dash and the seats, don’t it look clean as well?’ ‘ Why yes it does, indeed it does, son.’ ‘ Now dad, come here and look at the frame, dad I’ll help you down to the ground and lie on your back, and here’s a flashlight --- look, I got all that old rust off and painted it as new, doesn’t it look good too?’ ‘ Why it’s great, my son - looks very good.’ Then he stated, ‘Dad, I think I finally got caught up in fixing all that needed attention, the outside looks sweet, the mechanics all updated and fixed, the frame has been detailed... I finally can’t see anything else that this truck needs to be attended to. So what do you think, have I missed anything that needs attention?’

This truck indeed looked great, the dark blue paint of the body as deep as the Caribbean ocean, and the frame, now shiny and black without a trace of imperfection.

Now my son and I are close, for when he was 1st born and the pride and joy I felt holding him in my arms moments from birth - and his quick soft smile with squinting eyes back at me are one of those permanent memory stones of life that I’ll always remember, cherish and praise the Lord for.

So now that he is all grown up and with our close relationship strongly based on Christ our Savior, the good question my son asked me was for my opinion about his working on his truck, and all the good work that he did over the years in self-examining, self-seeking, and making his truck shiny and bright - he never forgot our relationship and wanted my approval as well as my opinion as to what else needed to be done. And as I looked, I looked deeper, and saw all that he did, was done well... but then I also saw more work for him to do, for he missed the rust spots on the quarter panel of the underneath of the cab, for his eyes somehow couldn't see it, but me -- my eyes saw it clearly. Having shown him the rust, he now saw that it was there, and conceded that it must be something he needs to be attacked next. Having thought he saw everything, he missed something that was so clear to me… but he also asked me not only to share in his joy as to what he has done, but also for my opinion if there is more to work on to be better. Did I mention that we have a close relationship?

That is the same with our relationship with God and how we also need to deal with sin in our walk and relationship with Christ. Sin is never totally gone, yes it’s forgiven, for sure, but there is always something to work on to make our lives even more shiny and bright....

David stated it well to his heavenly father that in Psalm 139…

Psalm 139:23,24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

So if we think we are sinless, we need to ask our Father if He sees the same of us as we of ourselves. For God can look in places that may be hidden within the quarter panel of life ....

For God's glory...