Making the right connection

The nature of farming makes it necessary for a variety of essential tools and equipment to be in the possession of farmers. The list will usually include welders, drills and various assortments of spanners and wrenches. An additional item, also common on farms, would be a set of jump leads.

When I was working on the farm, I remember using this device. Occasionally there would be a severe overnight frost and in order to get a tractor’s flat battery going, I would have to seek out the jump leads. Usually, the issue was with the 135, and it was needed as the only tractor suitable for a job like scrapping out the cubicle house.

Recently I had the self-inflicted problem of a flat battery in my car. I pulled a second car alongside and attached the jump leads as required. The battery unfortunately did not charge, even when I waited a while. I began to wonder if the issue was with the jump leads themselves and borrowed a portable battery charger. My car started instantly, proving the problem was a failure of the jump leads to connect properly.

That incident reminded me of the problem some people have connecting with God. Most people claim they believe in God, but many wrongly think they connect with God by the good things that they do – or the sacraments they partake in.

The Bible teaches us that the way we connect with God is through a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, His son. In 1 Timothy 2:5 the Apostle Paul declares “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”

The reason a mediator is needed is because mankind cannot be reconciled to God on their own. Neither can God arbitrarily forgive sin without justice being satisfied. A mediator was needed to make things right. Someone who was perfectly sinless, yet human. Our sin is so serious and dominant we cannot please God, which is why Paul explained to the Roman believers that, “a person is justified by faith apart for the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28).

The amazing thing we find as we read the Bible is that God has taken the initiative to restore a relationship with mankind – a relationship broken by the sin of Adam and Eve. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read…“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Paul is reminding us that Jesus, who was sinless, paid the debt of our sin on the cross.

The day I tried to start my car using a faulty set of jump leads was frustrating and doomed to fail. The right connection to a power source made a difference instantly. The good thing was I came to realise that persevering with the jump leads was hopeless.

I wonder have you an assurance in your heart that you belong to God by faith in Jesus alone, faith in the only mediator, and the only ‘go-between’ provided by God. Or are you putting your trust in things that will let you down?

​

Having grown up in rural Tyrone, after leaving school at the age of 16, Knox worked for over 20 years on the family dairy farm near Aughnacloy. Having felt the call of God to full-time ministry, he was ordained in 2005 serving as minister of two Presbyterian congregations for 14 years. In 2019 he was called to be minister of Aghadowey and Crossgar Presbyterian Churches in County Londonderry.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.