1 John 5: The Commandments of God — preaching

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

–1 John 5:3

 

The Holy Ghost Is A Better Driver Than You

Once, when I was living in Boone, North Carolina, a friend collected me with his truck. This college town has quite a few steep residential streets, to say the least. We drove off to find a pick up game of basketball in one of Appalachian State’s gyms.

“I need to make a stop before we play,” my friend told me. “My boss and his wife are out of town and I’m dog-sitting.”

He drove up a winding street to a small parking lot, and I saw a set of fancy condos. The view from up here was stunning. Fall was in season. My friend went inside to take care of business, returned quickly, and we headed for the gym. I noticed that he was not going out of the parking lot the same way we had come; he was going to the rear of the lot, toward that perfect autumn vista.

He was talking to me as he drove. I wasn’t listening. Because to me, it appeared that he was about to send us over the edge of a hundred-foot cliff. I yelled to make him be quiet and maybe spare our lives. “Hey… Hey!… Hey-HEY-HEY!”

“What’s wrong with you?” he said, not braking.

Then I saw that there was a small paved street back there, totally invisible from the lot, curving around the “cliff”, and reconnecting with the road. The truck did a deep, smooth dip onto this one-lane back street. No problem at all. I remember eating my fist.

After it dawned on my friend what I had been screaming about, he was not capable of playing basketball very well. Because every time he looked at my face for the rest of the day, he laughed so hard, he cried.

That memory came back to me this week, as I struggled with the things of this world. I realized that I was receiving a message. The Holy Spirit whispered, Stop worrying. Just let me drive.

Galatians 3:11 mentions that the just shall live by faith, and that they would become as Abraham… Abraham, whose faith was counted as righteousness.

This occurred in Genesis 15:6, which is when Abraham was born again.  Paul said in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.“

According to the Bible, the Lord doesn’t want our best. It is Christ’s best put to our account. For the true Christ follower, there should be some evidence of good works after this justification, after being born again and saved. But we don’t have to worry about being perfect– it is about being made perfect.

Sometimes when we are anxious about the future, we want to control things. To us, it seems that the Holy Spirit is sending us to a task that is beyond our abilities… or beneath. It seems that He is about to send us into the valley, headfirst. We want to take over the steering and the pedals. Doesn’t matter that the One currently driving is unfathomably better at it.

God makes a promise to justify the heathen through faith. Same as he promised Abraham, when He said, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

The Lord was reminding me of something. He is simply saying, “Relax, kid. I’m driving, not you.”