Rusty bike syndrome - 28 February 2010 |
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“I used to be a Christian, but then I kind of drifted away from God. I thought I still believed in him, but I didn’t go to church for years, really. But then this happened. I tried to pray again, and I really wanted to get back in touch with God. Went to church and everything. Trouble is, I realised that I no longer believed in God at all.”
What you need is to start rebuilding from the ground up. When you’ve neglected something for so long, the best way forward is to start from scratch. Actually, you’ve forgotten most of what you used to know, and what you can remember is probably wrong anyway.
I call it rusty bike syndrome.
Imagine: you used to have a bike, when you were a kid. Used to ride it all the time. But then one winter you put it away in the shed, and the following spring you never got it out again. There it lay, gathering dust and accumulating rust for years on end. If people asked you whether you had a bike, you’d say, “Yeah, sure I do.” You just never rode it.
Then, one day, you really needed a bike for something, so you went to the shed to fetch the old two-wheeler. But when you finally managed to haul it out, the tyres were flat, the chain was broken, and the handlebars were so rusted that you could hardly turn them. Besides this, it was about 15 inches too small for you.
What are you going to do? A drop of oil here, lick of paint there? Hardly. Get off down to the shop and get one that’s more your size.
Or: open up a Bible and start at the beginning.
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog, Things people say and questions people ask