Faith Lessons – And Teenage Driving

My oldest daughter, Molly, recently turned 15-1/2. As some of you know, that means she is old enough to get her driving learner’s permit in our state. She’s doing very well (as long as it’s not in my stick-shift Altima, where she’s not nearly as comfortable with a clutch).

Here’s something I never thought I would say about her - I detect a bit of a race driver in her. Twice now, she has pulled into the garage too fast…with me saying “Brake, brake!”… and all she can do is give an evil laugh, stop short, and then look over at me with a gleam in her eye. This is not her finest moment…

This weekend, I let her drive me around on a couple of errands. As she was driving down the highway at fifty miles per hour one morning, it occurred to me that we…no I…was very much at risk. She has never had to stop very fast because somebody ahead of her slammed on her brakes. If you think about it, the accelerator and the brake are really close together on our mini-van (2-5/8”, actually – I just went out and measured it). And to top it all off, it occurred to me that the net closing speed of the two-ton Suburban on our left was in excess of a hundred miles per hour. If she swerved, or if the Suburban did, there would be NOTHING I could do about it from the passenger seat. My safety – and I hate to say, my life - was completely in her hands at that moment.

For about a half-second, I was suddenly scared.

And then I thought, “We’re in God’s hands anyway. And we both know that we’re going to heaven if we die. So I don’t really care if she’s in a situation a little beyond her ability. I’ve got to let it go.” Really. I thought those very words to myself. It still seems a little crazy to me.

And so it struck me what a great comparison teenage driving is to trusting in God. Not that God is working beyond his ability. No, it’s more about how you can’t simply keep preparing yourself for His will without ever getting to the task. Like Molly’s driving, at some point, you have to assume she is ready for the next big step and so you go let her engage in the real thing.

Sometimes, it’s very hard for me to simply let go and trust that God will take control of a situation. My father raised me to believe that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. So I’ve been doing things myself all my life (just ask some of my neighbors, who still think I’m crazy because of the way I landscaped my entire yard with very little in the way of power equipment). It’s one thing to pray that God will intercede. But for me, it’s another thing to understand when He has done so, and to trust that the prayer has been answered – and that there is nothing left for me to do. It’s even harder to detect when he has answered my prayer with a “No”. I like to see visible results, but that is not always God’s way.

I think I need to learn to be more comfortable that God has a plan for me…AND that He is executing it. My tiny mind still finds it hard to believe that the God who created the universe would spend any time caring for me. But He does, because He tells me that He loves me more than any love that I can imagine. Ephesians 3:18 – “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” If God can love me more than I love my own wife and kids, then I have to trust that He is working His plan for me more faithfully than I can possibly do it myself. So, I will try to be still and know that He is God.

But if you see Molly and me driving through your neighborhood, you might want to move out of the way.

Was There Another Way?

As we celebrate the Easter holiday, my thoughts are drawn to the layout of God’s plan for our salvation. Simply put, it goes like this:

1) God defined the line between good and evil, He told us what sin is
2) He promised that sin must be atoned for with the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:7) and with death (Romans 6:23)
3) Man sinned (Romans 3:23) – every person who ever lived was guilty
4) God maintained His promise AND delivered our salvation by sending His Son to shed his blood and die – in our place
5) He resurrected His Son after three days, and Jesus is now preparing for the Second Coming – when the entire history of mankind will be judged

The power and simplicity of God’s plan still amazes me. If I were designing a plan for salvation, I would have been tempted to install a system of restitution and restoration – basically, one where a person has to “earn” their way back into God’s favor through good works. Indeed, many religions (even of the Christian variety) operate under such a system. It seems to be a human tendency to demand penance and good deeds to make up for sin. Offering my own son as a sacrifice for many? That wouldn’t have occurred to me.

Could God have achieved His purpose in another way? He could have put in place a design like mine where a person could “work off” their sin. He could have made the rules and expectations much more lenient. He could have put in place a “cap and trade” system (so popular with our government) where “sin credits” are bought and sold, at least by those who have the money to participate. A poor sinner (I mean one without cash) wouldn’t fare well under such a scheme. So why didn’t He choose a different method?

Because God’s nature is both perfect and inviolable. That is an extremely important distinction, and one which sets God’s plan apart from any system that man can devise. He is the embodiment of goodness and perfection, and He cannot tolerate the presence of evil. His faultlessness is unchanging and clearly in evidence. Would we really want a God who was anything else?

Was there another way? I think not. Since God is perfect and all-knowing, I believe that He chose the single, best way to accomplish our forgiveness. It’s not in His nature to do anything else.

We happy few are given the blessing to live forever in the presence and service of God Almighty. 2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.” We have a means to participate, not under the broken and unjust rules of the world, but in the very “divine nature” that is God. And that glorious outcome is not given to us for a few moments, but will last for eternity – world without end, Amen!

Happy Easter Sunday! This day is not about bunnies, candy, or even a family get-together over a meal. Today is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the fulfillment of God’s plan which allows us to spend an eternity with Him. Could we celebrate anything better?