A Well Oiled Machine

There is nothing more intriguing than the working of a well oiled machine – whether you are amazed at the latest technological innovation or just love the sound of a finely-tuned muscle car. I remember our son, Christopher, when he was six or seven years old being fascinated with steam engines. We took him to an event in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, called “Old Threshers’ Reunion” where he was overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of steam engines of all sizes. While I was enthralled with the large threshing machines, we could hardly tear Christopher away from the huge display of small engines used to run everything from corn shellers to drills and saws.

Following that experience, he would use his Legos or blocks to “build” machines and every time we were in a restaurant awaiting our food, Christopher’s fork and/or spoon quickly became the working piston and drive shaft of a steam engine complete with sound effects (sounds that I cannot adequately reproduce myself). Amidst the flying saliva that created the sound of escaping steam, there was an intense concentration on his face as his imagination recreated before his eyes, and our ears, the splendor of a smoothly operating steam engine!

God must have had a similar penchant for a well-oiled machine when he created the world around us – especially the intricately wonderful human body! It is that blueprint that Paul borrows to illustrate how the church should function when he describes our relationship as the “body of Christ”. As with those steam engines which required constant oiling, adjusting and tinkering to keep them puffing along, the Holy Spirit has His hands full working to make us, the church, function efficiently in order to do the work of the Kingdom. He attempts to put each of us in a strategic place of responsibility, while He constantly applies the oil of “love” to keep the friction of discouragement to a minimum and produce a smooth, perpetual witness and testimony to the world.

Our greatest challenge is to accept the “place” the Lord chooses for us, and then to cooperate by being easily led and taught. When we do our part, it’s a beautiful sight to behold which intrigues the people around us and draws them to Jesus as the Engineer of our faith!

How exciting to be His people,
Pastor David Vanderpool