Give Me the Keys!

I have been teaching my teenage son how to drive.

Can you read between the lines? Let me say it again, only this time, more slowly...

I – have – been – teaching – my – teenage – son – how – to – drive.

For me, another crop of gray hair. For him, learning to obey Dad's "First Commandment of Student Driving" –

"Do what I say immediately, without question and without hesitation."

Because he is so anxious to get behind the wheel, and because his mother refuses to step foot in the car if he is driving, my son eagerly agrees to follow Dad's First Commandment.

While we are sitting in the driveway, everything goes well. He has every intention of obeying every word I say. His heart is in the right place.

After we pull into the street, real driving proves to be a bit more complicated and following Dad's First Commandment becomes a bit more challenging.

It is not that he willingly disobeys me when I say, "You need to stay on THIS side of the double-yellow line." Instead, he wants to justify why he is on THAT side. He wants to give me a whole list of good reasons why he ended up on THAT side.

He wants me to understand how he got there and overlook the fact that he is driving on the wrong side of the road. He wants me to say, "I understand. Your reasons for being on THAT side make all the sense in the world. I forgive you."

But I cannot say that.

Because I love him...because I want what is best for him...because I want him to learn the right way...because I want him to be safe...because I want him to live past his 18th birthday...and because, even though he doesn't see it, in the other lane, there is a

loadeddumptruckbelchingsmokegoingtoofastandcomingstraightatus!

I say instead, "Move over NOW!"

In the process, he learns some very important things...

1. I know more than he does when it comes to driving

2. I have very good reasons to tell him what to do.

3. If he ever wants to get to the Promised Land of driving by himself, he needs to see things my way.

And it all starts with following Dad's "First Commandment of Student Driving."

In our Christian lives, it all starts with following the words of Jesus.

In John, chapter 12, Jesus uses strong language to make the same point. He says...

"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life."

When we first become Christians, we are so anxious to get behind the wheel with Jesus that we eagerly agree to "accept His words."

But, as we pull into the road of real life, we find it difficult to do what He says "without question and without hesitation."

Like my son when he drives, we want to give Jesus a whole list of reasons why we ought to be able to go our own way. We want him to understand, to forgive, and to allow us to keep on going down the wrong side of the road.

But He cannot do that.

Because he loves us...because He wants what is best for us...because He wants us to learn "right" from "wrong"...because He wants us to be safe from danger...because He wants us to live with Him forever...and because, even though we do not see it, in the other lane, there is a

loadeddumptruckcalledhellbelchingsmokegoingtoofastandcomingstraightatus!

In the process, He wants to teach us some very important things...

1. He knows more than we do when it comes to living the Christian life

2. He has very good reasons to tell us what to do.

3. If we want to get to heaven, we need to see things Jesus' way.

Once we show Him that He can trust us to follow Him and do what He says, then He will give us the keys...not to the car...but to those pearly gates!


Pastor Greg