Imagine yourself in a car driving along the road and all of a sudden you see Jesus standing on the side of the road with his thumb out wanting a ride. Now you're a good person so you think to yourself "if I let Jesus into the car I have to make sure I do whatever he says and go where ever he tells me to". So you stop the car open the passenger side door and say, "Hey Jesus come on in", so he comes in sits down and you turn to him and ask. "Where would you have me go Lord?" And you wait for an answer, but he doesn't say anything.
I heard this short story in a sermon given by Bob Hamp called Life in the Kingdom. It was used as an example of how most of us view our walk with Jesus, he gets in the car and we are really careful to listen to what he says so we don't get any of the turns wrong. Now see, this kind of makes sense to me, after all, it is my job to make sure I get this right isn't it? Right? I mean, it's really kind of a big job sometimes, and sometimes I feel like I'm never going to get it right and I might as well give up now while I still have the strength to walk. But God is with me, so it will be alright in the end, right? As long as I hold onto that thought, that fact, that truth, I'll be ok, as long as I remember that I'm going to be ok, then I'll be ok, right? There are days when I feel like I'm drowning and I'm crumbling under the pressure of it all, and all I really want to do is say that I really don't feel ok. Those days when I want to scream from the rooftops that I'm drowning please someone help me! But I can't do that, I have to remember that I'm going to be ok, because then I'll be ok.
Ugh... how exhausting is that? Do you notice a theme that stands out to you at all in what I said? As long as I, if only I, God will help me if I... If we are always standing on our own strength it's no wonder we're feeling squished. What would happen to me if I can't save myself? If I don't have the strength to reach God what will happen to me? How will I save myself? Sort of feels like I left God out of the picture. But he's not, he's right there sitting in the passenger seat, and as long as I listen and obey what he says and drive us well enough, we'll both get where we're going... right? Wow... this is still exhausting... But what if I mess this up? Does that mean we're both doomed? If I get myself lost does Jesus get lost with me? (you know sometimes our thoughts sound really silly when we take them out and air them a bit) :)
On a side note I've recently discovered something, do you know its impossible to loose yourself? The only way you could ever be lost, is if God didn't know where you were.
But anyways, back to work cleaning out moldy thoughts... where was I... :) Ah right. So in listening to this sermon by Bob Hamp he gave another variation of the above story, a different image of what letting Jesus have control in your life would look like.
Imagine again, your in your car and you see Jesus on the side of the road wanting a ride. so you stop the car, jump out of the drivers seat, walk around into the passenger seat, wait for Jesus to come inside and say "Jesus my car is yours, take me where you will."
phew, so much less work! Does that mean I can just sit next to Jesus and let him drive for me? Wow, that would be so nice, I might even get a chance to take a nap and catch up on some of that rest I've been behind on... Though it sounds kind of easy, what's to stop me from being lazy and forgetting that He's in the car? Lol :) I just had this picture of me sitting in the car looking out the window resting in the presence of my Lord as he's driving along... ok :) so if he's there and he's still driving why would I think forgetting him would even be an issue? It's sort of like being afraid of forgetting that Dad is driving the car while your on the way to your friends house... so what if you are conscious about who driving or not? He's still got the wheel right? Ok, wow, that would be so nice to sit back and enjoy the ride for a while, wouldn't that be fantastic. Simply to rest in the assurance of Jesus being Lord.
So in thinking about this story my first question was, well ok... but what happens if I take the steering wheel back from Jesus? I had this image of him driving then me panicking grabbing the steering wheel and making a mess of the whole situation. It is amazing how arrogant we can be sometimes, we have the most powerful God in all creation on our side and we're still convinced we are strong enough or prone to evil enough that we can mess this whole thing up if we don't try hard enough. "God I know you're trying hard to save me, so don't worry, I'll try really hard to make sure I'm saved." It sort of makes sense doesn't it? We do have the ability to mess this up don't we? Well... kind of... we have the ability to let ourselves be miserable, we have the ability to listen to all the lies of the devil and believe him when he says that we are terrible, pathetic, worthless creatures unworthy of Gods love (that makes sense right? Even the church has taught us that one). We do not however, have the ability to hinder or help God's ability to save us. It doesn't matter even if we are the most worthless, vilest, despicable thing in all creation, not an ounce of that changes the nature of God, and it is because of the nature of God that we are saved.
Phew! That's a ton of bricks off my chest. That means I can step back and let God do the work on this one, and all this time I thought I had to save myself. Do you know, it is really hard work to carry yourself. It is made all the more difficult by the fact that it is impossible.
So back tracking a bit back up to the story, I asked God why it was that I'd given him the wheel but still didn't feel like he was in control. Well he smiled at me and gave me this image. Jesus is in the drivers seat, in complete control of the car, and I'm sitting in the passenger seat with a little toy wheel sitting in my lap. And there I am dodging obstacles, fighting to stay on the path, weeping and crying out to God in my distress and weariness (after all I can't stop to rest, who would drive the car then?) and I call out to God, "God! Why aren't you helping me! Can't you see how tired I am? Can't you see how hard I'm trying? why don't you save me from this and give me rest? Where are you? Why can't I see you?" And all this time I have my eyes firmly fixed on the obstacles ahead, after all it's up to me to make sure I don't hit them. But this whole time Jesus has been sitting next to me peacefully driving the car around every obstacle and everything that might raise it's strength against us (a couple of times we plowed right through things, I felt so bad for not having the strength to go around) and he's waiting for me to turn and look at him in the midst of my troubles. He knows that once I turn and look at him I will find rest, because he already has control of the wheel, He already has me in his arms safe and sound. Now what he is waiting for is me to trust in his words and to be at peace. But notice something about this picture that is truly beautiful. Even though I have worked myself into a panic, even though I have forgotten the presence of God, that I have forgotten Jesus is right there with me, even though he's waiting for me to turn and look at him. All the things he is waiting for me to do, haven't in the least affected his ability to save me or keep me safe. They've simply affected my ability to see his work in my life. As soon as I turn to him, and trust in him as my source of strength and support, immediately I will know that he has been with me the whole time and see his love for me. Isn't that beautiful? Can we just sigh with relief at that thought? This whole time I've been thinking that I have to read God's mind and then perform his will perfectly, how unfair would that be? I'm so glad God has the wheel on this one, I'm super excited to see where we're going next.
:)
