The car that you own has 46,885,247 parts that can break and need to be replaced. (Well, not really, but it feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it?) So, it is fairly easy to tell the mechanic, “No, I don’t want to do that suggested maintenance.” But most of the suggested maintenance is designed to keep your car running for a longer time and, more importantly, to keep you safe.
What if your mechanic kept telling you at every service call, “Your brake pads are metal on metal and your brake fluid is nearly empty,” but you kept saying, “It’s ok. The car still stops”? What would eventually happen? You know. At some point, your car will not stop.
The Christian life is not unlike that. The Lord wants us to do regular maintenance on our faith (2 Pet. 1:5-11), on our Christian works (Tit. 2:14; 3:8, 14), on our relationships (Rom. 12:10-21). Without regular maintenance (cleaning, growing, strengthening, doing, etc.), what would eventually happen with our Christian walk? It would stop! Let’s follow our Maker’s suggested maintenance in His user’s manual!