The Old Mower and Psalm 119:9&11

My 33 old Montgomery Wards riding mower finally gave up the ghost, went kaput, died. It came with our house when we bought it and although it looked pretty good it didn’t run. At some time before it became ours it was parked in the garage and sat. When I took a closer look at it a found three main problems: 1. The battery was deader than a door knob, 2. Somebody had tried to mow rocks and busted one of the mower blade mounts, 3. Both the gas tank and carburetor where gummed up with old shellacked gas. Once I took care of those three things the orange beauty ran like a champ, made my life easier, and helped my son earn a lot of money mowing around the neighborhood.I would say 33 years is a “ripe old age” for riding mower. I attribute this to three main factors: 1. God answering my prayers to make my things last, 2. Proper use, 3. Regular maintenance.Now let’s pretend your and my life is like a riding mower. If we are going to run like a champ, last, and be a blessing we need to pay attention to three things: 1. God, 2. The written Word of God (aka the Bible/Manual), 3. The ways of God. That’s the instruction given to a new mower/young person, “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your (God’s) word” “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119:9&11 (NLT, parenthesis mine).Somebody designed that mower for the purpose of mowing, and they wrote a user manual so the eventual owner would know how to use the mower and get the most out of it. Can you ignore the designer and all the included instructions? Absolutely, you can ignore its purpose, use it for whatever and however you want to, and never do any maintenance. But don’t be surprised if you get hurt, beat it up, be frustrated, have to spend money to fix it, and wear it out way before its time. Of course if you have enough money you can just go and buy another one, but that doesn’t work with life, no amount of money will buy you another one. So it might be smart, wise, to recognize that God made us, designed us for a purpose, and has written a manual so we would use our lives properly and know how to maintain them.Maybe you are reading this and you no longer qualify as young. Maybe you are like a broken down mower, maybe you abused your own life, maybe you never changed the oil, mowed rocks, were stupid, and more than just your gas tank and carburetor is corroded. Does that mean the instruction of God’s Word you read above is not for you? I suppose not if that’s what you want to settle for. But what if you were to pay attention to the designer, to God? What if you were to start reading the manual, the Bible? And what if you were to start doing what you read in God’s Word? What if you were to let God use his knowhow and tools on you? What if you learned to look out for rocks, change the oil, and keep the blades sharp?Was it only important for me to seek God’s blessing and pay attention when I first got the mower? Of course not, it is important throughout life, a mower’s life, but even more importantly your and my life.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor HansP.S. If you wondering where to start reading your Bible I suggest you start reading the Gospel of Matthew and one chapter of Proverbs a day.