I don’t know much about cars. I can change a tire, replace a battery and add oil. Beyond that, I’m not much help. When the check engine light comes on, it might as well be a flashing dollar sign ($$$$$), because it means a trip to the mechanic.

Several years ago, we drove from Little Rock, Arkansas to Colorado for some vacation time. We were a little west of Denver and beginning the climb into the mountains when I noticed our van didn’t seem to have much power. About that time, I felt a “clunk” from somewhere underneath the vehicle. Then I noticed the check engine light had come on.

Not exactly how I’d hoped to start a week in the mountains.

To make a long story short, I had to trade the van in and get a new (used) vehicle to get back home.

As annoying as that experience was, how much worse would it have been if there had been no check engine light? What if I had tried to drive the thousand miles home and gotten stuck in the middle of nowhere? If you’ve ever driven from Arkansas to Colorado, you know there’s quite a bit of “nowhere” in between.

As much as I hate to see it come on, the check engine light lets me know something is wrong. Something needs to be checked out. In some cases, you can ignore the light and you’ll be just fine, but sometimes you ignore the light and you end up in serious trouble.

As intricate and complicated as a car engine can be, it can’t compare to a human being. You and I are a powerfully complex combination of physical, emotional and spiritual. And if there’s something wrong in one area, it can dramatically effect the other areas.

The problem is that we’re not always quick to realize there’s a problem. It’s not that we don’t have warning lights, we actually do, it’s just that we fail to recognize them. And so we continue to live in a “check engine” condition without ever realizing it.

So what are the warning signs? How do we know when our check engine light is on? And more importantly, what can we do about it?

Let’s make this really easy. If you are experiencing any of the following on a daily basis, your check engine light is on:

• you feel weary
• you feel frustrated
• you feel annoyed
• you want to give up
• you don’t care any more
• you feel angry
• you’re impatient
• you feel disconnected from God or others
• you feel hopeless
• you’re anxious

Now that’s not an exhaustive list, there may be many other emotions that would signal there’s something wrong beneath the surface of your life. Just look for any negative emotions. God didn’t design you to live in a state of negative emotions.

So what’s the solution?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon chronicles his journey to find meaning and fulfillment. He tries many different things. It’s not a long read, so check it out. Take 20 or 30 minutes and read the whole book, not just chapter 1.

We can spend a lifetime looking for pleasure and enjoyment in just about anything: sex, money, possessions, work, fame–you name it and somewhere, some time, a human being has tried to find happiness in it.

But we weren’t designed to find happiness in those things.

God designed us to find our pleasure and enjoyment and happiness in Him. And only Him. Some of those other things–sex, work, recreation, relationships, etc.–are gifts to enjoy. But they’re not designed to ultimately fulfill us. Only God can do that.

Psalm 37:4 says:

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

To delight in the Lord means to find your pleasure and enjoyment in Him. It means that you look to Him to be your ultimate source of joy and fulfillment and happiness. It’s how you were designed. You were made for Him.

If you find yourself experiencing one negative emotion after another–your check engine light is on. Those negative emotions are a warning that you’re delighting in the wrong things.

You can always choose to ignore a check engine light.

But why would you?