It takes work to keep our shine on.
Car wheels, for example. Brake dust can build up and dim their shine.
Yet, we can’t do without the brakes. They are necessary for the good and safe operation of our vehicle. The dust will build up. It’s up to us to regularly wash it away.
That’s our Christian life. We can’t live in isolation from the world. We will stir up dust. We might irritate someone in traffic through no fault of ours. The light changes, we’re the last through, and the driver behind us is angry that we didn’t drive a little faster.
Not our fault . . . but it is our brake dust.
Or we stop by the grocery store, and because we’re preoccupied, we offend the cashier. It’s not intentional. We’re tired, we’re planning what to prepare for dinner, and we overlook her greeting.
Brake dust. That’s all it is.
We flip on the television, and every show is filled with situations closer to lust than to love. We get distracted, and the words we’ve overheard begin to crop up in our conversation.
It’s time for the cleaning to begin. The brake dust has to be gone.
1 Peter 1:14-16 gives us our scrubbing cloth.
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ”
When you see the brake dust in your life, don’t stress. Just clean. As the Word says, we are to be obedient children. When we are, we will shine brightly through the redemption of the Son.
Jesus is our example, and he is the standard to which we must compare. Let’s be like our Lord, perfect and above reproach in everything.
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