Rebuilding Carburetors
Rebuilding Carburetors
I once had an old three-cylinder outboard engine that had one carburetor per cylinder. A carburetor is small device that mixes air and fuel for the engine, and when an engine starts acting up it is the most likely culprit; especially with todays ethanol added gasoline. So, when my boat began to run less than prime, the symptoms appeared to point to the carburetor. I tore down, cleaned, reassembled, and reinstalled the three carburetors on that boat at least a dozen times to no avail.
After weeks of trouble shooting and buying multiple extraneous parts, the motor still wasn’t running correctly. In a last ditch effort, I changed the fuel lines and tank, finding a cracked line that I had previously missed. The motor issues were gone, and it possibly ran better with undoubtedly the cleanest carburetors of any outboard on the lake.
We will never get out of sinful patterns if we only address symptoms without getting to the root causes. The Hebrew writer describes how troubles in the church, were being caused by the root of bitterness that was springing forth other problems.
“looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled”
Hebrews 12:15 NKJV
Often we fight and struggle with behaviors and obstacles in our lives never realizing that what we are fighting are only the symptoms of the underlying sin in our lives. People struggle with their self-worth because they don’t trust in the identity that Christ has given them. Husbands are defeated in battles against lust and pornography, because they are not honoring and cherishing their wives. People are living paycheck to paycheck in a cycle of poverty, because they refuse to discipline their spending to go without what everyone around them has or is doing. Families begin regularly skipping opportunities to worship, because the priority of worshipping the savior and loving his people was exchanged for self serving activities.
If your struggling and losing battles in your life, it may be time to pull the weeds out by the roots, instead of just cutting them to the surface.
I love you,
Jonathan Long