An Unwelcome Passenger

As I departed the office for home, I heard an abnormal and alarming knocking sound coming from the rear passenger’s side of my vehicle. Before pulling out of the drive and onto the public roadway, I stopped, walked around the car, and discovered that my tire was nearly flat.

I had a tire-change kit onboard my car, but I also had a battery-powered air compressor. The spot I was stopped was not ideal for changing a tire, so I decided I would inflate the tire with my compressor and head for home, hoping I would arrive before it lost too much air again. “I’ll have a much better surface and environment to change the tire in my garage at home,” I thought, “surely I can make it there.” As I disconnected the compressor and headed for the driver’s side, the hiss of rapidly escaping air, dimmed my hopes.

A few miles down the road – the tire was once again very nearly flat! Now I stopped and changed the tire. When I took the damaged tire to the shop to be patched, the mechanic called me to the reception desk and dropped an object that clanged loudly on the counter. It was a seven-inch long, large diameter masonry drill bit. “This was inside of your tire,” he said, with a hint of amusement. He reported that the tire had to be replaced because my driving with that bit inside had destroyed its integrity. (I had replaced that tire only two months earlier.)

That drill bit is like offense. If we hold offense and try to dismiss it or pretend it isn’t there as we travel the roads of life, it will tear us up on the inside. Like my tire, we might look fine on the outside, but that offense will be casting around inside of us, damaging our integrity. Eventually, if not dealt with, it will destroy our integrity and potentially cause catastrophic consequences to us and those around us - much like a blowout can cause a severe accident affecting many innocent people.

It's often easier to ignore or at least delay dealing with an offense, but like my experience with the tire and the drill bit, we do so at our own peril – and possibly at the peril of others. Let’s take a moment today to search our hearts for any offense we may be carrying. Let’s confess it to the Lord and choose to forgive and release those who have offended us before the offense causes further damage in our lives or in the lives of those around us.