Is Your AC Working?
It’s hot! But it is supposed to be in early July. Added to the heat is the humidity and that equals discomfort in doing most anything. We open windows and doors hoping for a gentle breeze and try to locate every available electric fan we’ve stored away because of AC – an item we seldom appreciate as much as we should until it’s gone! True, most of us grew up in an era of window fans and survived it rather well. We learned to “cope” with the situation and stifle our complaints. Still, we grew accustomed to the comforts of air conditioning and just have forgotten how to accept the breezes from electric fans.
Oh yes, I’ve called the repairman. He informed me his company has been extremely busy for the past three weeks and that he would work me in as soon as he could; hopefully, Tuesday. It will be a bit expensive, but from what he told me, the type of failure I have in this unit is unpredictable. Adding to our AC concerns is the fact my window AC in my home office (it was only twelve years old!) failed this week and being the “cheaper” kind, will need to be replaced. Again, opened windows and doors and two electric fans!
Comforts are something we take for granted until they are removed from us. While some of these things are unpredictable, many are predictable, but we seldom anticipate their failures until that time arrives. The same is true of our SPIRITUAL comforts! We get “comfortable” in our worship, our study, and our conduct of life, and the “maintenance” of these things is overlooked. Examine Titus 3:8: “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (emp. mjd)
In this context, “maintain” means, “to stand before, that is, (in rank) to preside, or (by implication) to practice: - maintain, be over, rule.” (Strong #4291) We would agree with the meaning of “take care of; keep a check on its functionality.” In other words, it is our responsibility to examine everything about our faithfulness and assure it is sound, righteous, working properly, etc. and ready to every good work (Titus 3:1). Even those things which we think “unpredictable” need to be examined and “maintained” so our faith and its practice before others is seen at its best! (Philippians 1:27 – 28). This explains Paul inspired statement of 2 Corinthians 13:5.
Such occasions as the home AC going down are humbling. We prefer people to stay away because they won’t be any more comfortable than we are. We slow our activities because of the heat, and attitudes can sometimes increase at the same rate as the heat. When we consider the reason why we realize we no longer enjoy our “comforts.” We have to work a little harder to find ways to complete the necessities of life. In this process, we also tend to think “things couldn’t be worse” but they could be! What if you didn’t have electricity, let alone the fans that use it to move the air into a cool breeze? What if you couldn’t find any shade? What if there was no breeze of any type?
Likewise, the experiences of our spiritual lives can humble us. We grow accustomed to the “routine” of singing, praying, hearing a sermon, partaking of communion, and giving as we have prospered. Have you ever been in attendance when there was no song leader or the preacher was taken suddenly ill just hours before services were to begin? Have you ever attended where the one responsible for preparing communion was unable to do so, and no one cared enough to take up that responsibility that Lord’s Day? Surely, we are always prepared to pray! Well, some of us have seen the time when no one felt able to lead the assembling in prayer! Of course, some don’t worry about their giving: they just “chip in” instead of giving as they’ve prospered anyway! Seriously, such times exist and are quite humbling when they happen! Invariably, such times happen because of a failure to maintain good works!
Sure, we can “get by” in such times. We can become too dependent on the “comforts” of life as well. The difference is knowing our responsibility of diligent, faithful service to Christ Jesus. If each of us would show the same diligence (Hebrews 6: 10 – 12) in such maintenance, we would continue to be ready for every good work and therefore find ourselves “comfortable” in serving our God. While all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), it doesn’t mean we have to constantly suffer. We need to appreciate the humbling times that help us to be more aware of our responsibilities and thereby strengthen our faith by learning the lessons of life. As well, we would do much better to never take advantage of these “comforts,” but carefully and daily increase our faith, increase our goodness, and increase our diligence of service. It’s all a matter of being prepared to meet our Lord!