Car Shopping

July 27, 2021

One of the outcomes of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500’s was an emphasis on the sacredness of all of life. It came down to us and became known as the “Protestant Work Ethic,” which declared in part, that all work is God’s work. I encountered this today.

Sunday, I posted how God convicted me of putting other activities and interests ahead of my time with him, and of my decision to quit researching vehicles and simply trust him. When I did so, God spoke quietly to me: “I will bring to you the very car you’ve been researching.” Faith that is kept to oneself isn’t really faith; you have to drive a stake in the ground like Martin Luther who told his inquisitors, “Here I stand; I can do no other.” So I wrote about it. 

Monday, I received a call from a dealer I had contacted earlier about a different brand car. I told Linda I was going to check it out. She got quiet. I know that quiet—I’ve heard it before! She was heading out to an appointment, but called me about a half hour later, telling me the reason for her silence. “You said you believed God was leading you to the other car; even wrote about it. Now you’re backpedaling on your word.” I didn’t like hearing it, but she was right. As a sidebar, I’ve often noticed that the voice of God often sounds like Linda’s. I scrapped my plans, and told her that today I was going to go to Buffalo and talk with Patrick, who has been trying for weeks to find us what we’ve been looking for, all to no avail.

Before leaving the house, I checked the dealer’s website, wondering if my trip would be in vain. I had told Patrick the day before that he was going to find our vehicle; “It’s out there somewhere,” I said, and when I checked this morning, lo and behold, there it was! It wasn’t new, but it was what we’ve been looking for, very low miles, in our price range, and get this—a model upgrade! I voice texted Patrick, telling him about the car. He couldn’t find it on their website until I gave him the stock number. 

A few minutes later, he called me back. “I’ve got good news and not so good news. The car hasn’t been sold, but we don’t know where it is.” 

“Find it,” I said. “I’m on my way.”

Find it, he did, but before I put my money down, I read him Monday’s post. “You are doing God’s work here,” I told him. Too often, we imagine God’s work is something we consider holy, like preaching or missionary work, but if we take seriously what it means to be made in God’s image, and the value God placed upon us when he gave his only Son to die for us, and if this world is in fact, God’s creation, there is no work that cannot be holy. It is past time for us to see ourselves and our work as having value, even eternal value when it is done in the name and for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Patrick, you don’t have to be a missionary or a preacher. Just be the best car salesman you can be, continuing to do your work with integrity and eternal purpose. God brought us together and has purposes in this we may never know in this life. So tonight, I give thanks for something as ordinary…and extraordinary as buying a car. From our first meeting, Linda and I had a sense that you were the man, I have no doubt God orchestrated everything. Even the mundane serves eternal purposes when we give it to Christ.