Have you heard the one about the man who bought a chain saw?

All his life, he’d cut wood the hard way—by hand, with axe and buck saw. But when he heard about a newfangled thing called a “chain saw” that almost cut the wood for you, he figured he’d get one. So he went to the nearest hardware store where the clerk sold him a top-of-the-line model.

The man went away excited, only to return the next day, mad as a hornet. He slammed the saw down on the counter and shouted, “I worked all day and barely cut down one tree! You sold me a defective product!”

Perplexed, the clerk picked up the chain saw to inspect it. He pulled the cord and started the engine—at which point the man asked in surprise, “What’s that noise?”

It reminds me of another story—a familiar one, though not very funny at all.

A man decided he needed a new life. He’d spent many years living the hard way . . . guilty and graceless . . . lost and lonely.

One day, though, he heard about a new way of living, a life that almost did the living for you. He figured he’d get one. So he went to the nearest church where a nice man introduced him to the New Testament and ethical living and a different Sunday morning routine—to theology and ecclesiology and eschatology. He was introduced to new friends and new ways to spend his spare time.

He went away excited. And for the remaining years of his life he studied, attended, and tithed. He went to potluck dinners and helped build homes for the poor. He swore off the bottle and did odd jobs around the church building.

When he died, he met Saint Peter at Heaven’s gate and laid the life he’d lived down at Peter’s feet. He looked at Peter and said, “I have to tell you I’m pretty disappointed in this. I worked at it hard—for years! But no matter how much I tried, I was never able to cut much wood with it. There were sins I struggled with to the very end. There wasn’t as much joy as I expected. To tell the truth, it all felt a little anemic to me. Maybe there’s something defective about it
. . . or about me.” He grinned at Peter sheepishly.

Puzzled, Peter picked up the man’s life and gave the engine a good crank. It sputtered and then came roaring to life—strong, powerful, a little dangerous.

But the man didn’t notice any of that. He was just trying to figure out what that noise was.

How many of us live tepid, timid lives when God wants the life in us to be strong, powerful, and even a little dangerous? How many struggle with the same old sins, wrestle with the same old fears and doubts, wonder about the same old questions? How many live without a sense that our living makes a difference—that God is doing something powerful and dangerous in us and through us? How many live with anything close to Peter’s passion, or Paul’s power, or John’s wisdom?

Perhaps the era of powerful living is past. Perhaps the time of spiritual giants who turn a world upside down is over. Perhaps the best we can hope for is to hang on and hang in until Christ returns.

But maybe, just maybe, the reason for our anemic living is that we’ve never really started the engine of our spiritual lives. Maybe we’ve focused on being nice and going to church and doing good things rather than filling up with combustible kingdom power. Maybe we’ve confused Christian lifestyle and friendships with the true energy sources of life: gospel, Spirit, faith.

If there’s truth to that, no wonder we wind up with lives that evidence only as much power as we can muster. No wonder, so often, there is so little of the transformative and supernatural and dangerous about our living and about our churches. No wonder we end up burdened by a life that was meant to free us, carrying a faith that, all along, was intended to carry us.

There is an engine that drives the Christian life, an energy that fuels and empowers us. It is an engine built into the framework of your life and mine.

It’s available to each of us. But we have to turn it on. How sad to live an entire life and never once hear the noise. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells