While most are attracted to the pretty over detailed car sitting out front,
I have been more enamored over the years by the cars in the back row. Cars that
may have faded paint, interior a bit worn, and the odometer showing high miles.
The ones that are generally first shown to kids with only a few bucks to spend,
“this is what $500 will buy you kid,” while he is hoping his money buys him last
years hot model. Some lose faith at this point, some buy into the technique,
but I go back to the back row. Where bargains are found, the price is more
reasonable, and for a few hours of clean up and fluid checks, change an air
filter and the oil, you have more car for the money, and more money to go places
in it. And no monthly payments, now if only your friends will ride in it and be
seen with you in it....
For me it was a 1967 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, loaded. Bought from a
dealer’s used car lots, in a pre-pre owned car era, it was very clean, but the
AC didn’t work. But the dealer promised to fix it, “probably just a recharge,”
and I went back later to pick it up. And the air still wasn’t working. It
seems Cadillac had a unique AC system not found on any other GM product, and it
was costly, did I want to pay to have it fixed? NO! You said you would fix it,
and after haggling, the manager was brought in, and then one of the owner’s
sons. “Did you promise to deliver the car with the AC working?” And after the
salesman mumbled something, produced the sales contract, saying it would be
working. “So fix it,” and after being told the cost, about what I had paid for
the car, $995, he again said “fix it,” and it was fixed. One week later, it had
cost them over $1000, only the Cadillac dealer could repair it as no other tech
had the training, I was happy, they had honored their word, and I was driving a
Cadillac!
Until I traded the six miles per gallon for 25 miles per gallon. The buy
in price was low, keeping the gas needle gauge off E took all my money. But I
could say I owned a Cadillac, even if I couldn’t afford to drive one. Even with
the car payments on the Rabbit my monthly costs were less, and yes, it had AC.
That worked. Even had Polyglycoat applied by Vince at his cost, who did it for
the dealers. Maybe the best $10 ever spent on a car. I always like the Rabbit,
but it wasn’t a Cadillac, I learned I could either fill my tank or fill my ego,
filling the tank was cheaper, less expensive. But I could still hear the voice
over in the ads, “best of all, it’s a Cadillac...”
Lust was once defined to me as “you have to have it now irregardless of the
cost.” Right now is maybe another definition, but that which feeds our physical
senses, our ego above all comes closer. Ecclesiastes tells us how material
things, possessions, and desires, if we have enough money all things are
possible. But not profitable. How many have to have the big house in the right
neighborhood with the correct zip code, and the house owns them? How many
garages are filled with cars they cannot afford to drive, but can announce they
drive a BMW? I know women who dress in the latest styles, yet they cannot go
anywhere but work to show them off, and all her coworkers know what she makes?
It seems we all live beyond our means, take what we make and add 10%, that’s our
budget. But as styles change, cars wear out, and new homes are built, where is
the pleasure found in the product? Seems the things of man only satisfy for
awhile...with awhile never being long enough, and usually long before the
payment coupons are gone.
But a life in Christ is different. When he gets the glory, we get the
blessings. Maybe the difference between happiness and joy is Jesus. Joy is not
the absence of suffering, but the presence of God. Joy, part of the fruit of
the spirit, is given to those who please God. But on his terms...lest we boast
on us. Wisdom and knowledge are fleeting, as each day new situations occur, and
what worked yesterday may not work today. But wisdom from above is never
changing, it is us who need to change. God wants us to have nice things,
happinesses are what blessings are, but to put them in the proper order. “Seek
ye first the kingdom of God, then all things will be added unto you...” Timothy
tells us all things are added for our enjoyment. And once you acknowledge that
all blessings come from him, your life changes, and we draw closer to him. And
his fruit begins to be revealed in us. His desire.
So what is God’s desire for us? To know Jesus. To have the faith to
please him, to have a trustworthy relationship with him, in all things as Romans
tells us. For all things work together, both good and bad, timely and untimely,
both sorrow and happiness, and both success and disappointment. To God all
things work together, and to the one who trusts him in all his ways, Proverbs 5,
he will direct their paths. Remember it is even in the valley of the shadow of
death that he is with us, not just during worship on Sunday. It is in the
toughest times,the darkest hours that Jesus shines brightest, when all hope is
lost, he is still there. He works in ways we cannot see, and has rescued many a
person from the back row, while the person in the front row was more interested
in himself. But his offer is the same for all. For both the rich and the poor
can only be saved by him.
So I have found that sitting in the back row and letting him get all the
attention blesses me. I cannot save, only he can. So in all things give him
the preeminence, seek him first, and hang on for the ride. For it begins here
on earth, and we can have heaven here in him. An old Mercedes Benz tech one day
helped a woman with no AC. Lifting the hood, he replaced the blower fuse, and
the AC worked again. She was impressed, until she heard the price. “$20 for a
fuse?” His answer, “yes, but I knew which fuse.” Only in Christ will we know
for sure. For to the man who pleases him, “he gives wisdom, knowledge, and
happiness.” Note the order....and best of all....it’s free! And you can have
it now. Now that’s a bargain at any price.....for even in today’s economy Jesus
saves, and that’s still a miracle!
Ask yourself, will you pay the price of a Cadillac and not get one?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com