The Starter

For the past couple of weeks my dad and I had been trying to fix my car.
It wouldn't start, so we got a new battery.
It still wouldn't start so we got a new solenoid.
It still wouldn't start so we dug out an old starter that we had salvaged off another Explorer I had owned.
Now you have to picture this. I park in the street. It's January. My dad's laying under the car on a piece of cardboard while I stand bundled up on the ice/snow packed road, waiting to hand him tools and watching for cars who might try and come hot rodding down the road.
Yet despite the weather we put on the starter with great confidence. I got in the car and turned the key. It didn't start.
But we could hear the starter spinning, and thus weren't sure why the car didn't turn over.
We took the starter back off and decided we'd build a starter out of the best parts of the two we had.
We took them apart and it was great fun! Like a science experiment we tested them out on the battery before we hooked it up and it worked.
With confidence we put the new rebuilt starter back on. I turned the key nervously and... it didn't start. What? We could hear the starter spinning, but the car did not turn over!
We were baffled. My dad looked at his car manual and I was surprised to find that it addressed our exact problem! If the starter spins but does not turn the car over it's because it's slipping.
How to fix the problem? Buy a new starter.
I bought a new starter. My dad laid out under the car on a tarp (because they're more water proof than cardboard) I waved at just about every neighbor on our street as they drove or walked by while I handed tools to my dad.
When he came out, we hooked the battery back up and I went to the drivers side. I put the key in and turned it.
The average person never thinks about how beautiful an engine turning over sounds! We tried it over and over again. Every time it started!
As I drove back to the parts store with my old starter to get my core charge back I thought about how my vehicle was like what I had once been.
Like my old starter I was dead. Dead in my sin. But I wanted to serve the Lord!
So I tried to fix myself up. I took the best of what I had and built myself. Just like we did with those old starters. I was full of zeal! When I was hooked up to the batter I would spin with excitement. But when I was attached to the car I couldn't turn the engine over. I could spin and spin, but my longing to serve the Lord wasn't enough to actually do it.
I tried to "fix" myself, but it wasn't good enough.
None of that starter my dad and I built was worth saving. It was broken beyond repair!
And so is our flesh. We in ourselves are broken beyond repair! WE CAN'T FIX OURSELVES!!!
It all has to go!
When I was at the parts store picking up my new starter I opened the box to make sure it looked right.
It was clean, but it looked just like my old starter on the outside. Same shape, same color, but there was something different on the inside. Something that had the ability to turn the engine over.
I still look the same as I always did. I have the same family, drive the same car, work at the same job, but there's something different on the inside now. Something that doesn't just spin with zeal but turns the engine over and goes somewhere!
All my old rubbish was thrown out and the Lord brought in all new parts! Because I didn't have what I needed, but He does.
So stop fiddling around trying to fix yourself, instead trade in that old pile of junk for Him.
Ask Him to fill you with His spirit, and allow Him to give you all new parts!
He wants to go somewhere with your life. But you'll never go anywhere if you don't first get the engine to turn over.