Good morning. I was sharing with Jerry one of my old stories from Bible College days. As I relayed to Jerry, one of our students was from India. He was a fine young man with a wonderful faith. What he was most known for was his cuisine when it was his turn to provide the evening meal for his housing unit. He would use a small snare to trap squirrels and use them to make a hearty curry served over rice. His housemates thought it was delicious, at least until they figured out that they were eating their furry little friends from the surrounding trees.
What I would like to share today is another story from our young Indian student. He had found a job that would be suitable for him, but there was a problem. It paid well, and his work could be scheduled around his classes, so it seemed perfect. The problem was that his workplace was a few miles away. In the fall that wasn’t an issue because he would ride a bicycle. But winter was closing in and he felt that he would need to have an automobile to make the journey each day. The good news was that he had been able to pass the test and get his MN driver’s license. The bad news was that he didn’t have a car, nor did he have much money with which to buy one. Checking the local paper, he discovered an ad for a car being sold by a person not too far from the college. He called her and arranged to meet with her within the hour.
What the young man found when he reached the address was an older lady who explained that the car in question was 10 years old, being a 1968 model. It had belonged to her son, but with tears she explained that he had joined the Marines right out of high school and had purchased the car as soon as he had saved enough paychecks to do so. He drove it whenever he was home on leave, but her son had died while serving our country in VietNam in 1970. It had been 8 years since his passing, and she felt it was time to let someone else enjoy his car. She had paid a neighbor to come in every week and start the engine, drive it a bit, and keep up with any needed maintenance. The car only had a few thousand miles on it, but because it was 10 years old and because she enjoyed the young Christian man from India who needed it, she let him have it for $500.
When he had driven it back to the college his housemates were very interested in how things had gone. He shared the details but then with sorrow told them “My new car isn’t running right.” A couple of them said they might be able to help and went out to the parking lot to see what they could do.
What they found was an absolutely perfect 1968 Ford Mustang Mach 1. It was dark blue with a black hood and racing stripes. It was set up with an engine and suspension that made it a true “muscle car.” What this meant is that when it sat still with the engine “idling” there were 320 horsepower begging to be set free. It wanted to be driven fast, real fast. Our lad from India, whose previous driving experience was largely with a goat cart, didn’t know quite what to make of it.
After a few frustrating weeks, our young man decided to get rid of the car, so he went to a dealership to see if he could trade it in. He couldn’t believe his luck when the salesman offered to trade him his personal car, a 1973 Toyota, for the 10 year old Ford Mustang Mach 1. When he got back to the college, bragging about the shrewd deal he had made, his friends tried to explain how badly he’d been cheated. But he now had a car he could drive, and the salesman had a car that he could show off or to sell for a small fortune. And the car was mostly likely being driven fast, real fast, setting all of that unused power free at last.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, telling them of his constant prayer given to God on their behalf: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms… Ephesians 1:18-20
Our young Indian classmate not only couldn’t recognize or understand the power inherent in the beautiful car he had been given he was totally afraid of that power. When he put his foot on a car’s accelerator, he wanted a quiet, slow, meek, reliable, easily controlled kind pf power. The 1968 Ford Mustang Mach 1 was not that kind of car.
The apostle Paul’s prayer would imply that Christians not fully recognizing the power of God within them, an awesome power that strains for righteous application, is nothing new. Even in the early church Christians were reluctant to accept the fullness of God’s power as the Holy Spirit desired to express it. Not much has changed. As Christians we continue to need to have the eyes of our heart opened so that we may recognize the glorious inheritance and God’s awesome power which are ours in Christ.
Please give that power within you some thought today. Consider where that divine power could make a godly difference in your life. Then with heartfelt and humble prayer, ask God to set free His power in you.
Vern