"Nascar"

"For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Romans 12:3



I hate traffic. It's probably one of my biggest pet peeves in life. I usually find myself in it wondering how half the people on the road around me were ever allowed to be licensed to drive. C'mon! And the traffic where I live? Horrible. Well, I guess it could be worse, but it's aggravating nonetheless! I mean, there are days when taking a left onto the main highway seems more daunting than performing brain surgery blindfolded. Which brings me to my story......

Two weeks ago, I was in the middle of the usual traffic. I was trying to make the best of it. I had the kids in the car with me. We had the radio blaring and were really enjoy singing along. I barely noticed the cars flying around me. I don't even remember where I was headed, but I distinctly remember the conversation with my son that soon took place. "Mom", he said, "I thought the speed limit sign said 55." "Yeah, it did son" , I replied. I then paused and thought, in all my puffed up ego, how ridiculously fast all the other drivers were driving. So, I said it (my mistake). "Yeah bud, those people are driving way too fast. It's ridiculous. Someone is going to cause an accident." My son paused for a moment, which I'm guessing he took to consider my remarks. Then, in a contemplative state he replied, " Well Mom, I wasn't really talking about them. I was talking about you. The speed limit sign says 55 and you're going 62." ...........Um... OUCH! I guess there's nothing like a child to deflate a parent's puffed up ego! Well, obviously I was silenced for a moment. The instant thought which popped into my mind was, "Well, the cops usually give a grace frame for speed. I probably wouldn't have gotten a ticket. The people flying around me would've been the culprits." But no, that wouldn't be a good thing to say to my son. I might as well tell him that the rules apply to everyone else but me. I can just manipulate them for my own convenience. So, what choice did I have but to swallow my pride and fess up? I didn't-- at least not if I wanted to be a good role model for him. So, I apologized and told him that I'd been wrong for not obeying the traffic rules. The law is the law.


Well, my lead foot is a bit of a joke in our house. When others are riding with me, I'm very vigilant. However, when I get my music going, I often look down to find I'm going much faster than I should be. My husband has even nicknamed me "Nascar". He gets great pleasure in teasing me about it! I'll be the first to admit, I fully deserve all the teasing. Oh yes, my family gets much entertainment from these things at my expense. I egg them on and just go with it. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves sometimes and over the last two weeks, I've definitely pondered back over that incident and enjoyed a laugh or two at my own expense.

It has also occurred to me, however, that God looks at sin the same way. Where I saw others going 70mph while I was going 62mph, God just saw speeding. We were all breaking the law-- no matter if it was by 7mph over or 15mph over. So it is with sin. We want to put our own hierarchy on sin. Yet we have tunnel vision. We like to make things just in our own eyes. It's almost comical how we think we've got it figured out and God just needs to jump on board. Yeah, we definitely need to have our ego-inflated balloons popped from time to time.


The revelation I've received in all this is how important it is to measure our heart motive in everything we do. While I can confront my brother in love when I see him stumbling, I must be sure of my heart motive. Is it pure? Do I do it because I genuinely care about his/her needs. How about my acts of service? Do I do them to give the glory and honor to God? Or is it just to receive the pat on the back or the accolades from admiring onlookers?

We live in such a society where it's constantly drilled into our minds that it's all about us. We need more "me time" or we need to treat ourselves more often because we deserve it! Right? Well, if we look at Jesus' example, not really. He came to serve and everything He did was to bring glory to the Father. Thinking on that snaps me back to my spiritual reality. While it's fine to treat myself occasionally, I remain mindful of the fact that life isn't about me. While I can confront my brothers and sisters in love, it had better be just that-- love. After all, I'm only human too. Self-absorption is something everyone battles from time to time. We're prideful creatures. We all desire to be recognized, to be liked. Yet our purpose here is not for our own recognition, but to bring glory to God.

You know, in going back to my story, I realize what an ongoing battle it is. My son now takes great pleasure in watching my speedometer for me. To be perfectly honest, it drives me crazy!! Everything in me wants to push the boundaries and go just as fast as I can without getting a ticket. That's such human nature, isn't it? We love to test those boundaries. For that reason, I have to get in prayer and the word of God every single day. I have to ask God to forgive me and help me start anew. Like I said before, it's a refining process!





Heavenly Father, you know my heart. You know the inner struggles I have. Lord, please let your desires be my desires. Help me not to think more highly of myself than I ought in any situation. Help me have a loving heart toward others. Help me to be a godly example to my children and others who don't know you. All glory and honor belongs to you Father. Let me do nothing to hinder that. Thank you for this day. I praise you for it. In the precious, loving name of Jesus I pray. Amen.