George shares his thought for the week; tuning in to God’s early warning system.

A number of people have told me that my car needs a good clean. And they’re right, it’s dirty, grubby and grimy and it hasn’t seen a car wash in a while. But even when I do get it cleaned and washed and it looks all sparkly again, it won’t tell those people who’ve seen it about what’s going on inside – what’s happening in the engine.

On my dashboard at the moment I’ve got a warning light which tells me I need to change the oil in the car, because it’s become old and degraded. That warning light is part of the software of the car, inputted by those who built it, to ensure there was a system within the car that gave warning lights – allowing me to make a change before it causes a bigger problem, or becomes apparent to people when they see my car breaking down.

And that’s a bit like our lives. We can look dirty on the outside, or clean on the outside, but the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 16 that God doesn’t look at the outside – He looks at the heart.

So how do we know when we have issues of the heart that need to be dealt with? Well, we have the ability to put God’s word into our heart. In Psalm 119:11, the psalmist says, 

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Psalm 119:11

When we have God’s word in our heart, we get those warning signs about issues and problems in our lives that we need to deal with quickly – before they cause bigger problems for us.

So as we go into the week ahead, let’s all agree to spend more time putting God’s word into our hearts, so that we have that early warning of when things go wrong that we need to put right. Have a good week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.