Mar 19, 2018
A daily devotional walking through God's word together using The Bible Reading Plan at http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html. Our website http://alittlewalkwithgod.com.
Bible Reading Plan - www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 26; You Version Bible app Engaging God's Story Reading Plan Days 186 through 192
The story is told of a major newspaper whose printing press went down in the middle of the night. The managers’ did their best with their maintenance crews to get the press operating but to no avail. Nothing worked. Finally, the owner called the man who had installed the press originally and worked at the printing press for years before retiring just a few months earlier.
“It’s the middle of the night. I’m retired. Can’t your people fix the thing?”
“We’re desperate. They’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work. Please come help us. I’ll pay you whatever you think it’s worth to get it back up.”
Reluctantly, the old maintenance engineer agreed and in a few minutes showed up at the plant. He walked into the printing press room. Took a slow walk around the press without touching a thing, just looking. The senior manager walked beside him.
“Can you get it running before our deadline? We have to get the morning run out in less than four hours. We don’t have much time. Why are you just walking around not doing anything. Can’t you hurry?”
The manager’s badgering didn’t change the old man’s speed or concentration. He just slowly walked around the press one more time. Again without laying a finger on the machines. Finally, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out a small wrench, reached inside the room sized press, and turned a single bolt about half a turn. Then, the old man walked over to the switches, started them up and the press ran like a dream.
“That will be $4,000,” the old man said.
“What? $4,000 to walk around the machine twice and turn one bolt? Are you crazy? That’s robbery,” the manager screamed at the old man.
The old man reached back into the machine and turned that same bolt a half turn in the other direction bringing the machine to a screeching halt. The manager was aghast. The manager quickly called his other maintenance men over.
“Which bolt did he turn? Hurry. Fix this thing. We have to get it going,” he screamed at his men.
Each in turn looking into the cavity in which the old man had worked his magic. There were dozens of bolts. All determined the tension on the rollers and one wrong turn on any of them meant hours of trying to reset the entire system.
“We can’t do it without tearing down the machine and resetting the system. We don’t know which one to turn. We’d have to set calipers on every one of them and we can’t get to them without breaking down the press. It will take us at least a day and a half to do it,” replied the most senior of the maintenance men. All the others nodded behind him.
The old man stood with his small wrench in his hand and his arms crossed over his chest. “Well,” he said. “You’re not paying for my time. You’re paying for my knowledge. Is it worth it?”
The manager went to the office and wrote out a check for $4,000.
That’s how Jesus is with us. We can try everything in the world to fix our brokenness, but it won’t work. I have nothing against therapists and use them for what they can do to help us heal in certain areas. But they can’t forgive our sins.
We can try to cover that darkness with good deeds, but in the still of the night, those good deeds don’t blanket the unforgiven sins that plague us. Good deeds can only make us feel good for the moment. They are never the end all because we cannot work our way to salvation.
We can try to buy our way past our guilt, but the things that money can buy never satisfies. It’s like Rockefeller said many years ago when he was asked, “How much money is enough?” His answer? “Just one more dollar.” Things cannot buy freedom from the smothering effects of the guilt of sin.
Jesus said it in John 8:23-24. Belief in him brings forgiveness of sins. Nothing else can do that. He is the way to eternal life. He is the light that shines into the darkest recesses of our soul so that the brokenness that burdens us can be brought to the surface for his healing. He is the answer to our every need. He is the one that brings joy when nothing else can. He is the author and finisher of our faith Paul tells us. The One who brings the finishing touch to the faith we talk about and hope to see become reality at the end of this life.
Like the expert that knows just which bolt to turn to make everything right, Jesus knows exactly what must be done in our life to make us right. He lived in human flesh to experience everything we experience to make it happen. He endured the Romans’ whip and the agony of the cross to make it happen. He died and lay in the cold, dark tomb to make it happen. He rose again to make it happen. He knows exactly what I need in my brokenness. He knows exactly what you need in your brokenness. He alone is able to forgive us of our sins.
Have you discovered his touch? Has he made that change in you? Do you know your sins are forgiven? You can. All you need to do is ask him, believe he will do it, then follow him. A pretty simple formula, don’t you think?
You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.