WE have developed a problem with our car over the last year or so.

If it is parked facing up a hill for any notable length of time, the fuel tends to drain away from the engine and we have major problems starting it. If we park it facing down hill (even if it’s only ever so slightly) it will start just fine.

The real problem is that it’s not always easy, or for that matter on our mind, to park it facing downhill. Sometimes we’ll pass a parking space outside our house, go to turn round to be facing the right way and lose the space to someone else, only to have to go and park elsewhere (hopefully downhill). Christians often use the word “repentance” and it’s very often misunderstood, but basically it means “turning our life around and facing the right way”.

It is when we stop living in a selfish way and start facing towards God that we often find things make more sense, life seems more fulfilling and we are generally more content. The opposite is also true, that when we turn away from God and face the wrong way, we tend to struggle more when we encounter the problems of life.

Life is full of distractions and demands on our time and energies, and there will be times when we find we have turned away from God and the things we should have been doing, but the great thing is that God loves us so much that when we try to turn back and face Him again, He forgives us, embraces us and gives us the Holy Spirit, who is a great source of spiritual energy and direction. This is when our spiritual “fuel” flows in the right direction.

Final thought:

Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

By Barnabas