Anyone who has ever been behind the wheel of a car knows that in a split second we can lose control of the vehicle. One minute you’re confidently cruising along, but hit a patch of ice or oil, and suddenly you’re in a tailspin. Round and round we go . . .
Highway driving is pretty predictable. The route is fairly well-marked, fairly well-lit, especially in the congested areas, and as long as you follow the signs you can pretty much stay on course and get where you're going with little difficulty.
Driving on back roads and country lanes is a totally different experience, isn’t it? Half the time the signs are knocked down or hidden by brush, and it’s easy to miss a sign and the next thing you know you are seriously lost.
Back road driving also requires a bit more skill, especially out here in Texas where we have a lot of country "farm to market" roads. Often narrow and twisting, these back roads are filled with chuckholes that seem to lay in wait and rise up in surprise right when you’re on top of them, and sometimes someone faster or bigger than you comes along and gives you a pretty good scare. Turn a bend, and, wow! Someone blows past you at great speed and you wonder, where did that guy come from?
Still, if we have taken the time to read the owner’s manual and gained some driving experience, we know how the car handles and how to respond.
That’s sort of how our relationship with God works. If we take the time to read the owner’s manual He provided for us and put into practice the techniques the manual recommends, although things don’t always run as smoothly as we’d like at least we know how to better negotiate the bends in the road and the bumps in life.
Walking in obedience to God is sort of like driving a car. Keep it between the lines and you’re good. Cross the lines and you’re either in the ditch or driving into oncoming traffic, neither of which produces our original desired result, which was to get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of inconvenience.
I’ve been studying the word of God long enough, and Lord knows I’ve tested Him and His word enough, to know that when we follow God’s ways our lives are blessed and when we follow our own desires our lives are a mess.
I have been doing my best to walk in obedience to God. I’m trying to keep it between the lines so that God will not only bless and enrich my life, but help me to make a difference in the lives of those around me. When others hold my life up for inspection, as people tend to do when someone openly calls themselves a Christian, I want them to see what God is doing in my life and step back and exclaim: What a difference this God makes!
But most of all, it’s my heart’s desire that by my having the confidence and faith in God that He will be faithful if I am, and by, hopefully, reflecting a positive image of Christ that those whose path I cross will desire a relationship of their own with God and this risen Christ that I have come to know. I want them to seek out my God . . . the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob . . . and the risen messiah, Jesus Christ, in search of what I have: not the superficial stuff people see when they meet me, but to see and feel the assurance that I have that there is more than just this life if only we are willing to ask for and receive it.
And while we often say that there is no such thing as free, the love of Christ and the grace of forgiveness are two things that I can say with all authority, after much personal trial and error, are two things in this life that are indeed free.
The old classic hymn with a happy, upbeat tune from Alfred Ackley goes:
I serve a risen savior.
He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him,
He’s always near.
That’s the good thing about God and the risen savior: there’s plenty for everyone and He’s always there. And best of all . . . it’s free. All free.
I don't know who this is playing He Lives, but he does a nice job of keeping this traditionally upbeat hymn cheerful.
Highway driving is pretty predictable. The route is fairly well-marked, fairly well-lit, especially in the congested areas, and as long as you follow the signs you can pretty much stay on course and get where you're going with little difficulty.
Driving on back roads and country lanes is a totally different experience, isn’t it? Half the time the signs are knocked down or hidden by brush, and it’s easy to miss a sign and the next thing you know you are seriously lost.
Back road driving also requires a bit more skill, especially out here in Texas where we have a lot of country "farm to market" roads. Often narrow and twisting, these back roads are filled with chuckholes that seem to lay in wait and rise up in surprise right when you’re on top of them, and sometimes someone faster or bigger than you comes along and gives you a pretty good scare. Turn a bend, and, wow! Someone blows past you at great speed and you wonder, where did that guy come from?
Still, if we have taken the time to read the owner’s manual and gained some driving experience, we know how the car handles and how to respond.
That’s sort of how our relationship with God works. If we take the time to read the owner’s manual He provided for us and put into practice the techniques the manual recommends, although things don’t always run as smoothly as we’d like at least we know how to better negotiate the bends in the road and the bumps in life.
Walking in obedience to God is sort of like driving a car. Keep it between the lines and you’re good. Cross the lines and you’re either in the ditch or driving into oncoming traffic, neither of which produces our original desired result, which was to get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of inconvenience.
I’ve been studying the word of God long enough, and Lord knows I’ve tested Him and His word enough, to know that when we follow God’s ways our lives are blessed and when we follow our own desires our lives are a mess.
I have been doing my best to walk in obedience to God. I’m trying to keep it between the lines so that God will not only bless and enrich my life, but help me to make a difference in the lives of those around me. When others hold my life up for inspection, as people tend to do when someone openly calls themselves a Christian, I want them to see what God is doing in my life and step back and exclaim: What a difference this God makes!
But most of all, it’s my heart’s desire that by my having the confidence and faith in God that He will be faithful if I am, and by, hopefully, reflecting a positive image of Christ that those whose path I cross will desire a relationship of their own with God and this risen Christ that I have come to know. I want them to seek out my God . . . the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob . . . and the risen messiah, Jesus Christ, in search of what I have: not the superficial stuff people see when they meet me, but to see and feel the assurance that I have that there is more than just this life if only we are willing to ask for and receive it.
And while we often say that there is no such thing as free, the love of Christ and the grace of forgiveness are two things that I can say with all authority, after much personal trial and error, are two things in this life that are indeed free.
The old classic hymn with a happy, upbeat tune from Alfred Ackley goes:
I serve a risen savior.
He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him,
He’s always near.
That’s the good thing about God and the risen savior: there’s plenty for everyone and He’s always there. And best of all . . . it’s free. All free.
I don't know who this is playing He Lives, but he does a nice job of keeping this traditionally upbeat hymn cheerful.
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