They say beauty is only skin deep. What you see on the outside is not always what you get. I have seen some good-looking racecars that don’t have what it takes to be competitive on the track. How do we know what’s in there. There is an easy way to find out if what you see is what you get. Let’s peal the cover off and look inside. Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Tech inspection exists for the purpose of making sure the seen and unseen components conform to the rules. The necessity of having to check gives us an indication of our human nature, we tend to try and manipulate things so that we have an advantage. Is it cheating if no one catches you? I can think of many sayings we have, in and out of racing, which help us rationalize bending the rules.
“We get paid to cheat and they get paid to catch us”
“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
“No one will ever know”
“Everyone’s doing it.”
Many times we rationalize doing something based on the risk of being caught. Is the reward worth it? If you receive an honor as a result of doing something illegal, immoral or deceitful; is it worth it? Some would say yes, win at all cost. Some would say yes, as long as no one was hurt. God’s word says, no.
Think about how we tend to see things. We bend the rules in our favor. We try to have everything work out to our benefit. We spend time trying to figure out how we can get the upper hand and not get caught. We tend to be self-centered and do everything in our power to achieve the best outcome for us. We spend very little time thinking about others.
I have been known to golf a little bit. Golf is a very interesting sport. There are no officials out there checking to see if you are following the rules. You and you alone are responsible for enforcing the rules on yourself. Call your own penalties. That’s when it gets interesting. How many of us are ready to turn ourselves in for something that violates the rules? They say someone’s true character shows when you watch them play golf, will they cheat themselves or will they hold up the integrity of the rules. What does it matter it’s only a game right?
In Luke’s gospel he tells us that the blessings we receive from God are contingent on how we handle the things of this world. Do we handle them with the moral character that will honor God? Do we view these resources as someone else’s not to be squandered?
Luke 16:10-13; “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
God doesn’t need tech inspection. He knows all that we do, seen and unseen. He knows the secrets that hide in each one of our closets. We cannot hide them from Him. God honors those that honor Him. It comes down to a choice. Who will we serve; God or money?
We love to sit on the fence. We want the best of both worlds. We look at things and decide which side of the fence we will live on today. We choose which side of the fence we want to jump down on and live accordingly. Our decision making process is guided by what we would like to do most. The three people we like to please are, me, myself and I.
God says there are no fence sitters. You either are going to please Him or not. We need to change the way we see things. We need to jump off the fence onto the side that honors and pleases God without concern for ourselves. Then we will know the blessing of God’s presence in our lives.
So what’s inside your life? I would like to encourage you to live with integrity in all your ways, whether someone’s looking or not. We should not need to explain our motives; they should be plain to see. Don’t live our lives always looking over our shoulder wondering if anyone is watching. It is difficult to move forward if we are always looking around. In all we do we should not be ashamed if it is exposed for all to see. Only when we live like this do we experience the presence of God in our lives.
Until next time, remember God loves you and Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing! God Bless. Remember, that your prayerful support helps us continue this ministry. Thank You.
