Opinion
THE LEAKING ENGINE
By Dr jalarth Uche Opara
My car engine would have knocked days ago.The last time I serviced it, I noticed little drops of oil beneath the engine. They were so insignificant that I waved them off. I saw the leak, but I did not see the danger.
Little did I know that, drop by drop, the oil was draining away.
A few days ago, the sound of the engine changed. Its movement became sluggish. At first, I did not suspect an oil shortage because the oil indicator showed nothing. But when I eventually checked the oil level, I discovered that the oil had almost completely leaked out.
The engine did not knock. But its performance had changed. Its sound changed. It was moving, but it was dangerously close to being knocked. Then it struck me:Movement is not necessarily a sign of health.
Nothing usually dies on the spot. Sometimes, it takes a gradual depletion,little, insignificant,seemingly negligible losses,before an iroko tree finally falls.
As I reflected on what happened to my car, I saw a trajectory that runs through almost every aspect of life. There is a principle here that governs the affairs of men, and through its lens, even our spiritual lives can be examined.
How many of us are leaking?
Little drops of anger.
Little drops of pride.
Little drops of compromise.
Little drops of dishonesty.
Little drops of lust.
Little drops of unforgiveness.
Little drops of prayerlessness.
Nothing dramatic. Nothing that appears capable of bringing the engine down.
Yet, drop by drop, something is being depleted.We continue to move. We continue to preach. We continue to sing. We continue to occupy platforms. We continue to sound powerful.But the engine may be running dangerously low, even with the applause of people.
Many preachers of the Gospel today are racing with an amazing sound, creating waves from the pulpit and commanding attention. Yet, beneath the noise, their spiritual engine may be leaking oil, and if the leak is not identified and sealed, they may continue moving, racing and ministering without knowing how close they are to spiritual failure.
We need to be spiritually vigilant . It is not optional.We must learn to check ourselves regularly, not merely our outward performance, but the condition of the engine within.
What is leaking from me that I have dismissed as insignificant?What have I normalised because it has not yet brought me down?
What little compromise is quietly draining the oil that keeps my spiritual engine alive?
A leak does not become dangerous because it is large. Sometimes, its greatest danger is that it is small enough to be ignored. Check the engine. Find the leak. Seal it early.Because you can still be moving while you are dying.
Sometimes, the warning is not that the engine has stopped.
It is that the sound has changed, oftentimes we ignore because we are still moving, preaching with perceivable results, unaware that our engine is running dry with oil and could knock soon. Many gone, a lot brought down and grounded out of carelessness because the little leak was ignored.
Jarlath Uche Opara
jarlathuche@gmail.com