I drove about 450 miles this past weekend. North from Alpine to Camarillo and back. I’m always a little stressed as I head out on the drive there. Will there be traffic? How long will I be on the road? Will I have car problems? Will I be safe? All was good, the travel was smooth and the visit was wonderful. So why am I writing and what am I writing about. Just bear with me…
Most of my driving is done without paying much heed to the speed limit. Not that I am a wild and crazy driver who just breaks all traffic laws and goes 90 miles an hour. No, that’s not me. Most of the time my speed is based upon the speed of those around me. I feel like I am playing it safe by going the speed of the other drivers on the road even if that’s over the posted speed limit. I also go a bit slower that some drivers so that if there is a Highway Patrolman who is going to pull over a speeding car, it won’t be mine. I make sure there’s at least one or sometimes two cars going even faster than me.
With lots of time on my hands as I made the solitary drive, I gave plenty of thought to my method of setting my speed. I am basically saying that I don’t follow the speed limit laws and that I let other drivers determine how fast I will drive. Why am I giving them this decision-making power? Why am I convinced that they know more about road safety that those experts who have set our speed limit laws. In a sense, I’m following others and deeming that they are right. Even when I know they probably aren’t. Just following the crowd. Majority rules.
It’s a perfect example of saying that if others are breaking the law, it’s ok for me to do it too. I don’t even feel bad that I’m going over the speed limit. And why should I? There are so many others doing it as well. If so many others are doing it, it must be the correct or safe choice, right? I’ll hop on that bandwagon. No one could find fault in this, or could they?
My hubby Bob had a rule of thumb that he espoused to me and our son constantly. He felt you were “safe” from getting a ticket if you didn’t go more than 10 miles over the speed limit. He said that law enforcement would give you a 10-mph cushion/grace space! Now when I think about that theory and apply it to my life and lifestyle choices, I can see the total fallacy in that way of thinking. I’m not talking about driving the speed limit. I’m talking about obeying God’s laws. God wants 100% obedience. Scripture doesn’t say that God is ok if you sin a little as long as its in an acceptable range! James 2:10 tells us, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Clear and concise. We are told to obey the whole law.
So what thoughts did this initial assumption about the speed limit lead me to? My behavior in general became the next discussion going on in my brain as I drove. What else do I do because others do it? What am I doing that is wrong, but I am deeming it acceptable because so many others have decided it is right? What am I approving in my own behavior and in others behavior that is against God’s law? I am sure you can imagine that I had quite a list bouncing around in my head. A long list that I am too embarrassed to put on paper.
As a Christian, I know God’s laws and I would like to say that I adhere to them and follow them to a “T”. That’s what I would like to say. But I can’t honestly say that. What I must say is that I often justify how I behave by saying “so many others do such and such so can it really be all that bad?” Basically, I just say I’m not the “worst of the worst” and so many others are at least as bad as me! I compare my behavior to others and judge myself as “not too bad” or even “pretty good”.
As much as I would like to say that the Biblical laws that I do break are just minor ones, I know from scripture that all of God’s laws are to be obeyed. There’s no ranking of sins. God’s standard is not a smorgasbord where I can pick and choose. Just breaking a single law makes me guilty of being disobedient. Even if I can count a bunch of friends and family who are bending or breaking a law, that doesn’t make that law wrong and their behavior or mine ok. God made the laws and we can’t modify them or change them. Just like the drivers on the highway are not responsible for adjusting the legal speed limit, man is not responsible for altering God’s laws.
Maybe a better mindset would be for me to follow the posted speed limit and not allow the crowds to convince me that they know better. And if I can follow that with man’s speed limits, should I be able to apply that same principle to God’s laws and do what God has called me to do? That’s not a simple thing. My biggest excuse is that I am human. I can’t do this on my own. Fortunately for me, the command to obey God comes with the promise that God is going to provide us with the power we need to do that. God is already at work in and through us to supply us with the will and spiritual energy to do all that He has asked. Ezekiel 36:27 beautifully states “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” What a blessing!
Will being obedient be easy? Heck no, but now I feel I have a deeper understanding of what God wants and doesn’t want from me. To follow Him, trust and obey. Trust and obey Him, yes Him and not other people who are setting their own rules. I’m not sure where those other people are speeding off to, but I will choose not to follow them.
That’s my prayer.
John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.”