Do You Live Like You Drive

Most of us are sufficiently informed about safe driving techniques and rules of the road, but many times we ignore them.  And when we do, we can find ourselves in many difficulties.

For example, do you allow your car to warm up before revving up the motor and taking off? I’m told that’s bad for the car and it can damage the motor, but many times we just turn on the ignition and go because we’re in a rush.  The question is, do you live like that?

How often do you put off getting up until the last minute, so you don’t have any time to quietly warm up your mind and your heart and tune it into the things of the Lord before leaving home?  When you do that, you leave home undressed—you don’t have the armor of God in place to protect you against your enemy.  If you head into your spiritual battlefield without even thinking about putting on the armor of God, as explained in Ephesians 6, your enemy will often be able to defeat you.

Not only that, but you don’t have time to get your inner mind and thoughts focused on Jesus.  You don’t have time to pray for his guidance and his wisdom, so you face your days trying to do everything yourself and relying on yourself for needed wisdom.  How foolish.  And you’ll find that your mind easily goes in the wrong direction all day long; you’ll see how easy it is for you to be impatient and unkind and uncaring.  All because you left home without warming up, just like you often do with your car.

You know, you can jump in that car day after day and rush off without warming up, and you may not notice any problem, until one day the motor conks out in the middle of traffic.  Bad driving habits often come home to roost later.  The same is true spiritually.  If you head off most days without warming up spiritually, it may not show up for a while, but eventually spiritual failure will result.

So, do you live like you drive?  I hope you’ll warm your car up before you leave home, but much more importantly, make that early warm-up time with Jesus an absolute necessity and discipline that you practice regularly.  I guarantee you’ll see remarkable improvement in your performance as a believer if you’ll get in tune with Jesus early in your day.

Here’s another question: Do you abide by speed limits?  Do you drive as fast as you think you can without being stopped by a cop?  I know that often I find myself pushing that pedal down a little too far, thinking, “Oh, well, I can go a few miles over the limit; that’s no harm.”  Well, that’s a bad driving habit, but it’s an even worse living habit.  God’s speed limits in our lives are there to give us abundant life, not to rob our joy.

A road where many people frequently speed is in their sexual practices.  Even Christians who are committed to a pure lifestyle often find themselves in compromising situations because they don’t abide by the speed limits.  Let me tell you, this is one area where if you deviate from God’s principles, you can end up in a spiritual wreck.  Most people who start speeding down this road never intend to commit adultery or fornication, but they lose control of themselves, just as you lose control of a car if you drive too fast.

You cannot go too slowly when it comes to dealing with your sexual drives and passions.  Just as you drive very cautiously on a road covered with ice and snow, you have to be exceptionally careful about sexual temptation.  Don’t put any confidence in yourself when it comes to controlling those impulses.  Stay off the road that leads down that path, and travel very slowly when your sexual impulses kick in.

Many Christians push the speed limits in the area of what they read and listen to and view.  Trashy or unedifying reading material just fills your mind up with junk, and most movies are even worse.  Are you highly selective about what you allow into your mind?  If you’re exceeding the limits of purity in these areas, don’t be surprised to discover that you’ll have an accident somewhere soon, because you’ve filled your mind with trash and that controls your thinking.

I hope you’ll watch the speed limit signs along the roadside as you drive today, but more importantly, watch the speed limits that God has given us for our good.  Do yourself a huge favor:  Do it God’s way, not your way.

Are you aware of the blind spot you have when you’re driving?  Did you know that when you look in your rear-view mirror, there is one spot right at the rear bumper of your car that you can’t see in that mirror?  I once was involved in a fender-bender because a car in front of me suddenly pulled into my lane and hit me.  When the police arrived, the woman driving the other car kept saying to the officer, “I looked in my mirror and she wasn’t there.  She came out of nowhere.  She must have been driving very fast.”  When we explained that I was in her blind spot, she refused to believe us because she’d never known she had a blind spot.  But you know, she still got a ticket and had to pay to repair my car, because she should have known about her blind spot.

Now, just think how we often live the same way.  Do you know what your blind spot is when it comes to spiritual matters?  I have written in my prayer book and often pray Psalm 19:12: “Who can discern his errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.”  It’s hard to discern our own blind spots.  If you aren’t aware of where you tend to be blind about yourself, go to a trusted friend and ask them to help you.  Pray a lot about it.  Many times our effectiveness for Jesus Christ is seriously damaged because of our blind spots, areas in our lives where we can’t see ourselves clearly and we don’t understand what we’re doing that’s causing harm.

Think about your strongest personality traits.  Often our blind spots are the flip side of our strongest characteristics.  For example, I move very quickly, make fast decisions, and generally am very productive, getting a lot done in a short amount of time.  That’s a strength, but it can also be a blind spot.  I have to learn to carefully check it out, and make certain I don’t move too quickly, run in my own strength ahead of the Lord, and mow down a few people in the process of getting the job done.

To see your blind spot in your car, you have to turn your head.  You can’t rely on the rear-view mirror.  To see your spiritual blind spots, you have to turn your head to God’s Word and prayer and accountability to others.  Check out your blind spots when you’re driving, but more importantly, ask God to show you your spiritual blind spots.  Pray Psalm 19:12 every day.  Don’t let your blind spots cause you to have an accident.

How are your driving manners?  When another driver does something you consider stupid or dumb, do you say angry words to that driver?  Do you call them names and say things you would not say to their face?  I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of that, but we recognize it as bad driving manners.  And when there are others in your car with you, especially your children, what kind of an example do we set with that behavior?

My driving manners tend to deteriorate quickly when I’m behind a very slow driver or when the driver in front of me stops for a green light.  What I try to do now, though I don’t always succeed, is look at the driver and put myself in his or her shoes.  I may say, “Well, this is an elderly person who may be fearful when she drives.  Give her a break.”  Or, “Perhaps this is someone from another town and they’re not sure where they are, so they have to go slowly.”  Or if I see some children in the car, I’ll say, “That mother has her hands full; I’m sure the kids are distracting her.  I remember what little kids are like in the car, so it’s okay if she’s not moving as fast as I’d like her to.”

You see, if you and I can learn to treat other drivers on the road with that kind of courtesy, we’ll also treat other people in our lives with much greater consideration.  If I can learn to put myself in the shoes of that other driver, then I’m developing that wonderful habit for all the other people in my life.  That is practicing what we call “The Golden Rule.”  Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12).  If we learn to practice this principle, we will be in sync with all the principles of God’s Law; that’s pretty powerful living, don’t you think?

And the incredible thing is that it is a win-win way to live.  When I stop and put myself in the place of that other driver who is irritating me, immediately my stress levels and irritation subside, my blood pressure goes down, I’m not upset anymore.  We both win.  This is a principle we learn to practice through prayer and commitment; and the more you do it, the easier it is to do, because you recognize how well it works.  Ask God today to help you to use those occasions when you’re upset with other drivers as an opportunity to teach you how to live the Golden Rule.  What a great benefit that will be in your life.

Do you knowingly park in illegal parking spaces justifying that it’s only for a little while?  In other words, do you think you can break the rules and get by with it provided it’s a small offense?  I mean, parking for a few minutes in an illegal spot is not like going 90 in a 55-mile zone, so it’s no big deal, right?  Isn’t that how we often justify our actions?

And we do it in so many ways in the spiritual realm.  One of my tendencies is to let myself off the hook for some lack of discipline in my life because I am fairly well disciplined in some key areas.  But just because I have some discipline under control doesn’t excuse me from being obedient in all areas of discipline, does it?  Proverbs says we cause ourselves great harm when we refuse to put needed disciplines in our lives.  Have you been fudging in some small areas because you don’t think they’re that big a deal?  If God is dealing with you about them, they’re a big deal, and you’ll have no peace until you are obedient.

And then, when you’re driving and you realize you may be lost, do you stop right away and ask for directions or do you just keep going, hoping you’ll see something familiar soon? I’ve learned that the minute I’m uncomfortable and think I may be on the wrong road, I stop and ask.  I don’t postpone it until I’ve wasted more time.  It’s much easier to ask quickly.

The same is true spiritually.  You’ve got to have clear directions daily from God’s Word, and then be committed to follow them.  And you and I need a humbleness of spirit that allows us to go to others for guidance, and not to keep traveling down the wrong road until we’ve really gotten ourselves into a mess.