Driving Lessons': Drawing on her experience as a learner driver, CATHERINE WYLES looks at the basic theory and practicals of being a Christian
I CAN vividly recall my first driving lesson. I was 30 years old and physically sick at the thought of being behind the wheel.
‘What have you driven before?' my driving instructor asked, hopefully.
‘Nothing,' I replied.
‘Not even a dodgem car?'
‘Not even a bike,' I whispered.
He then looked for an empty car park in which to teach me. (I had a suspicion he also started to pray.) I knew nothing about driving. I hadn't even been brought up in a car-owning family. It was a new and alien world.
Steering wheelWhen someone becomes a Christian they can have a similar feeling. They may have made a confession of faith, but what happens next? Surely there's more to being a Christian than calling yourself a Christian.
My first lesson showed me the importance of the driving seat. Maybe the first thing to ask is: ‘Who is in the driving seat in our lives?'
Psychologists tell us that humankind has a natural self-preservation mechanism. I'm not sure that's right.
The early chapters of the Bible tell us that when God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve enjoyed an open, innocent, intimate relationship with their Creator. This was their God-intended, natural state. They happily acknowledged their dependence on God. Then things started to go wrong.
Satan sowed doubt into Eve's mind: ‘Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?' (Genesis 3:1 New International Version).
She replied: ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die"' (3:2, 3).
Satan then tempted Eve first to disbelieve God, and secondly to be her own judge.
‘You will not surely die,' he said. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil' (3:4).
Satan tempted her with independence. His blunt message was: ‘You can do without God.' And Eve believed it. She then persuaded Adam to do the same.
In saying that they didn't need their Creator, Adam and Eve broke the quality of their relationship with God. They put themselves into the driving seat. And ever since, the default setting of humanity has been to want to manage our lives without reference to God.
One of the key elements of becoming a Christian is to acknowledge that streak of rebellion within us and to invite Jesus into the driving seat of our lives.
This does not mean that we are no longer responsible for our decisions or actions - we are. But it does mean that we seek and follow Jesus' direction in the things we say, think and do. In a nutshell, when Jesus says ‘Follow me', we do.
It is only by doing this that we can enjoy an intimate relationship with our Creator, the one that he intended for Adam and Eve.
So, who is in the driving seat of our life? Whose way and will are we following? If it is still our own, then it's time to move over, hand control to Jesus and begin the most exciting journey of our lives.
War Cry 6 February 2010 - TSA UK
I CAN vividly recall my first driving lesson. I was 30 years old and physically sick at the thought of being behind the wheel.
‘What have you driven before?' my driving instructor asked, hopefully.
‘Nothing,' I replied.
‘Not even a dodgem car?'
‘Not even a bike,' I whispered.
He then looked for an empty car park in which to teach me. (I had a suspicion he also started to pray.) I knew nothing about driving. I hadn't even been brought up in a car-owning family. It was a new and alien world.
Steering wheelWhen someone becomes a Christian they can have a similar feeling. They may have made a confession of faith, but what happens next? Surely there's more to being a Christian than calling yourself a Christian.
My first lesson showed me the importance of the driving seat. Maybe the first thing to ask is: ‘Who is in the driving seat in our lives?'
Psychologists tell us that humankind has a natural self-preservation mechanism. I'm not sure that's right.
The early chapters of the Bible tell us that when God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve enjoyed an open, innocent, intimate relationship with their Creator. This was their God-intended, natural state. They happily acknowledged their dependence on God. Then things started to go wrong.
Satan sowed doubt into Eve's mind: ‘Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?' (Genesis 3:1 New International Version).
She replied: ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die"' (3:2, 3).
Satan then tempted Eve first to disbelieve God, and secondly to be her own judge.
‘You will not surely die,' he said. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil' (3:4).
Satan tempted her with independence. His blunt message was: ‘You can do without God.' And Eve believed it. She then persuaded Adam to do the same.
In saying that they didn't need their Creator, Adam and Eve broke the quality of their relationship with God. They put themselves into the driving seat. And ever since, the default setting of humanity has been to want to manage our lives without reference to God.
One of the key elements of becoming a Christian is to acknowledge that streak of rebellion within us and to invite Jesus into the driving seat of our lives.
This does not mean that we are no longer responsible for our decisions or actions - we are. But it does mean that we seek and follow Jesus' direction in the things we say, think and do. In a nutshell, when Jesus says ‘Follow me', we do.
It is only by doing this that we can enjoy an intimate relationship with our Creator, the one that he intended for Adam and Eve.
So, who is in the driving seat of our life? Whose way and will are we following? If it is still our own, then it's time to move over, hand control to Jesus and begin the most exciting journey of our lives.
War Cry 6 February 2010 - TSA UK
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