Power and Heat

Spring is almost here but the air is still cool. This means jackets and heaters stay on for a while longer. This would not be a problem if the heater in Joyce’s car was reliable. It has always had issues but she has learned to deal with them by adjusting the dials like the combination on a safe. But last fall not even the combination would work. So we decided it was time to have some work done on it.

After charging us the equivalent of a house payment she drove the car to work and turned on the heater. It worked! She had heat. She turned the thermostat down a tad to control the heat and suddenly she was getting cold air. She turned it up and got heat, hot heat. Turned slightly down and she got cold, no heat. There was nothing in between all the way hot and all the way cold.

I called the shop and got a conversation that included things like, “It could be several things,” and, “We won’t know how much it will cost until we find the problem.” We decided Joyce could live with it for now.

I realized later my mistake in describing the problem. We did not just want heat we wanted control over the heater. It was a matter of control. I also thought about how typical that is for many areas of our lives. We all like control and need it to some degree in our lives in order to feel secure. We need to feel some sense of power to make our own decisions for our own lives.

God also recognizes our need for power. He sent Jesus to bring us salvation and then gave us the power to choose. He gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us to be able to live the Christian life that He promised us in His word.

Paul said, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7 ESV) God wants us to feel secure in Him.

Bro. Robin