When I was a kid, I remember sitting on the couch with my Dad watching our black and white TV. One of the things that he liked to watch and really fascinated me was getting to see a “Demolition Derby”. It seemed to be a popular attraction of that time because these would show up on a regular basis. The idea was that a group of cars were put in some kind of a dirt-floored arena and the idea was for each driver to try to damage as many cars as they could without being eliminated themselves. The winner was the last car still able to drive around on its own power. They had a special technique to this whole contest. Instead of ramming the other cars by using the front of the vehicle, they would put the cars in reverse and ram them with the trunk. At first, I didn’t understand why and then Dad explained that if they crashed into another car with their front end, the radiator or even engine could easily be damaged. The cars were old ones that still had a good and powerful motor in them, and each one had numbers painted on them for what would be the last time that these would ever be driven. And so they went...ramming each other and creating as much destruction as possible. Eventually, they would be down to just a few cars and all the others served as unmovable obstacles as the last cars maneuvered for the final “kill”. And finally, it happened...the last two cars had it out and one of them would be the last one that could still move. The thing was that the “winner” looked as bad and as beat up as the other cars littering the infield. And that car, well even though it could still just barely move, it was considered destroyed too. It ended up just being junk. I thought about how that contest was so much like how people seem to act in our world. God wants people to be “winners’, to be saved from the consequences of their sins by the forgiveness that he purchased on the cross. But people seem unwilling to accept the love and kindness of the God of the Bible and seem to be bent on crashing and battering all those around them...and getting the same back! And in the end, even if the world declares them the winner...they too have been destroyed in heart and soul. And God is clear that is not what he wants...he wants everyone to be able to enjoy his goodness and grace for all eternity. But there are those who just can’t or more likely won’t listen to what he has to say through his words to us in the Bible. And so, instead of being able to park that junker and be declared a winner by God...folks continue to drive others and ultimately themselves to destruction in God’s economy. So, if you find yourself caught up in a Demolition Derby existence, stop battering others and being battered by them. Get out of that old car and let God declare you a winner and instead of ending up in destruction, you find yourself a winner in heaven itself. Demolition Derby’s were fun to watch, but no way to live life. Come try a better way surrounded by the love and kindness of this Jesus of the Bible.
Here’s our Bible verse for today...
2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— (16) speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ
Here’s our Bible verse for today...
2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— (16) speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ