Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. That would be good advice for anyone who gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, regardless of their age or however long they have been driving.

Years ago, back before there was an internet, ‘urban legends’ existed that still made the rounds, albeit a tad slower. I still remember one of the first ones I heard about that I just assumed was ‘truth’, and it had to do with two wealthy Arabs who had traveled out to the west coast to purchase an expensive, high-end, motor-home. Allegedly, according to ‘news reports’, they were driving along the coastal highway and after a bit of time, they set the RV to ‘cruise control’, and made their way to the back of the luxury rig to have a drink, just before it careened off the cliffs into the ocean. I also remember sharing that story with others for years after, thinking it was so tragically funny; go figure.

Today, we are actually seeing more and more cars and trucks take to the road that are self-automated, as in ‘driverless’. You can even call a ‘Waymo, Uber-type’ car out here in San Francisco to pick you up and drive you somewhere like you would a taxi cab; you just don’t have to worry about making small talk with the driver because there is...no driver. I’ve yet to be brave enough to try one of those yet.

But when it comes to this walk of faith, I have yet to come up with a better analogy to illustrate (as I have come to see it)...what it means to actually ‘abide in Jesus’. It has become so apparent to me that one can apply the same good advice when it comes to driving a car and keeping in in-between the lines, or ‘His lane’, as I often say. But instead of instructing you where to set your hands and eyes, that sound advice would be this:

“Set your mind on things above and guard your heart.” That is it; that’s as simple as I can offer up to you how to avoid ‘going over a cliff’. And there are plenty of them out there.

Friends, there is no ‘auto-pilot’ or ‘cruise-control’ when it comes to the kingdom of God where ‘believers’ can just sit back and ‘coast their way into heaven’. (Col. 3:2; Prov. 4:23) And when did God get demoted to being your ‘co-pilot’?

Jesus made the message very clear for all to hear and do: “Turn around and follow Me”...if you want to see and experience eternal life. (Matt. 4:17;19). And not only would we do well to guard our hearts and set our minds on things above, as we are admonished to do, but we better be ‘alert and vigilant’ as we ‘bring every thought into captivity’. (1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 4:27)

And may I remind anyone who drives regularly with the fact that once you have learned to drive a car -it’s not a hard thing to do, honestly. Oh sure, you can find yourself in situations that will ‘test you’ at times, be it bad weather, poor visibility, congested traffic in cities, etc. But simply keeping your car in its lane and your eyes up ahead does not require great skills or talent.

Now I will say that driving can be hard and most challenging when we get preoccupied with ‘other things’ while sailing down a two-lane highway at 70 mph. I don’t advise trying to watch YouTube clips on your phone while doing so, or trying to fix and then eat a submarine sandwich, or dozing off to take a short nap. Yet, how often do we do that , metaphorically, in our walk of faith?

When we don’t remain ‘vigilant and alert’ (1 Pet. 5:8)...or when we fail to ‘bring into captivity every thought to the obedience to Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5) and we fall short in ‘testing the spirits’ (1 John 4:1)...we can end up in a ditch...or worse. And there’s good reason why Paul tells us to ‘make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts’ (Rom. 13:14)...”those who continue to live according to the flesh...will die!” (Rom. 8:13)

But let me point out what our ‘default’ excuse usually is when we do end up in another lane of oncoming traffic, or upside down in a pasture, or going off a bridge in our car- we want to announce to the word: “I’m not perfect!”...or...”I have a fallen nature”. And if we don’t use those two handy excuses, then we blame it on the other driver or bad road conditions...etc.

Consider this, if you would: You own an older model car that has multiple issues that you have neglected to have repaired. When I say it has ‘issues’, I mean...you know for a fact the brakes are completely shot, and there is something wrong with the steering-wheel column because it has a tendency to just jerk or pull sharply to the left at times when you least expect it; which is why you’ve had it sitting off to the side of your house and ‘out of use’. Who in their right mind would allow a loved one to take that car on the road and attempt a cross-country drive in it? The car is D-E-F-E-C-T-I-V-E !

So why on earth do we think God would ‘turn us loose’ to go out and ‘serve in His kingdom’, even lead or pastor churches...with a ‘defective sin nature’? Have we not had a lengthy trail of news stories over the years where churches and church leaders have ‘crashed and burned’ because of sin? And those are the ones who get all the publicity; how many of those church members have done the same thing personally?

Do you know what a ‘re-call’ is? It’s when a car manufacturer comes to discover a major defect in their product, one that has led to multiple crashes and even deaths; so they put out a public notice to anyone and everyone who has that particular model to bring it in to be fixed or modified. Well guess what? God is putting out a ‘re-call’ for everyone who claims to be a child of His and continues to be falling into sin...blaming their ‘defective nature’ as the reason. And that recall is a ‘call to repentance’ (Acts 17:30; Luke 13:1-5)

Now I know some of you may want to bow-up over that and snort something to the effect of: “Are you saying nobody has any business doing church work until they are ‘perfect’? And I would simply tell you that you are getting ahead of me here. I will also point you to God’s word that says: “whoever abides in Him does not sin...whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:6,9). You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s message.