I Never Wear My Seatbelt
A Devotional On Learning To Listen To The Voice of God.
I know, I know, I know. I’m supposed to wear my seat belt when I drive. It’s unsafe, could get me a ticket, and is little to no hassle. But I never wear my seatbelt when I drive. In the same way, I believe most of us who drive a car have one avenue of dangerous habits when driving. Not wearing a seat belt, speeding, never using turn signals or driving way too close behind a car and braking at the last second (my Chicagoland friends, I’m looking at you).
My wife and I ran into this bad habit as I was driving us once to a date in Portland, Oregon. We were having a normal conversation about work and life, as we often do when suddenly my wife stares right at me and doesn’t say a word. One of those stares where you know something is off. Concerned, I directly asked her what was the problem leading to her pause. She didn’t answer. And as all husbands do, my mind races to figure out what I did wrong. Is this her birthday? Our Anniversary? Does my breath smell bad? The answer to each of these, was no. With a subtle nod to the dashboard, I finally heard it. The loud obnoxious chime of the seat belt warning. Funny enough, I didn’t hear it until she pointed it out, but it had been going off for ten minutes. I was so accustomed to ignoring it in my daily work commute and rhythms that I never even noticed the thing that was severely annoying my wife. My dear friends, I want to lovingly and encouragingly invite you to consider, that maybe it’s not that God isn’t speaking. You may have just trained yourself to be really good at ignoring God’s voice. If I could, I would like to invite you to step back into the conversations you have potentially been ignoring. Here are three simple steps to grow in your ability to hear and discern the voice of God speaking in your life.
1. Pay The Fine (Seek Repentance)
I was in the courthouse paying a ticket over a year ago and ran into a man who was having a very unpleasant afternoon. This man was at the line next to me shouting things like, “$350 for no seatbelt?? Is this some kind of joke?!? You guys are a joke! Scammers! How do you live with the fact that you work here? Losers. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” I wish I was exaggerating, my version is the clean and revised edition of what was said. This older gentleman was furious about the penalty of his driving offense, but never once took accountability for the fact that he was justly disciplined for disobeying the law. To debate the ethics, rationality, and praxis of laws is something I will not be diving into. But we must understand, that we as a society are okay with breaking the laws at times (speeding, littering, driving without a seatbelt), but feel severely upset and wronged when we are held accountable to the penalties we commit. I asked the worker in front of me “Is this uncommon for people to act like this?” And she said, “We see this every day.” I began to wonder, how refreshing it must be for them when people simply pay the fine, say thank you, and move along. If this is true for courthouse workers processing speeding tickets and fines, how much more true must this be of God? How delighted must God be when we look unto God and request His saving grace in repentance of our sin instead of complaining about the pain of consequences for our own mistakes and then taking zero accountability? And here’s the kicker, the price of salvation has already been paid by the body of Jesus being broken on the cross for us. By the shed of his blood and the stripes on his body, we no longer have to pay a price we couldn’t afford. God is a loving and gracious God who desires intimacy with his creation. All we have to do is turn back to Him and begin walking with God.
When we ignore the voice of God, we are begging for the destruction/decay of our bodies, mind, and spirit. We must actively seek the heart of God and genuinely request His forgiveness if we desire to be covered in His righteousness again. I look back in sorrow and disgust at the times I have blatantly rejected the voice of God moving in my life. Why? I now understand, that when I don’t follow God’s redirecting when I go off-course, I begin to operate in ways I was never created nor called to do. Humorously, I communicate this to some, God has given me a steak to eat but I have chosen to skip over the fork and knife God instructed me to pick up and have decided to consume it via a plastic straw. God knows us better than we could ever comprehend ourselves. When we abandon his voice, we are begging for confusion, division, and a distraction that leads to suffering.
2. Start Wearing The Seatbelt! (Obedience & Sanctification)
Now that you have paid the fine, hopefully, you learn to wear a seatbelt, so wear it! Wear it proudly! In repenting of sins, a heart change should lead to a change of habits. This is only done by the assistance and power of the Holy Spirit. You are going to make mistakes. You will eventually catch yourself driving down the road and realize your seatbelt isn’t on. May I encourage you to not allow these moments to justify how you’ll “never be able to do this…” but rather see it as a calling to deeper disciplines. God is always working with us and sanctifying us. There are things I used to struggle with that never even tempt me anymore, and there are also things the enemy will throw on my radar in attempts to destroy me until the day I die. The battle of submission to God is not won in life but through life. Continue to pursue the presence of God and get back up after every fall. The righteous are not those who don’t fall, but those who get back up after they fall. Every element of this world is not just physical, but spiritual. Don’t allow the enemy to lead you out of discipline due to distraction. Wear the seatbelt and wear it proudly!
3. Use GPS (Listen to The Redirection of The Holy Spirit)
The Pacific Northwest has one of the most confusing road patterns I have ever driven on. So many roads are one-way roads, the elevation of the land can make certain roads harder to connect than others, and so many roads in rural southwest Washington had no streetlights. Learning to navigate the local roads without a GPS took longer to figure out than I am willing to admit. Apple Maps got me everywhere, even if it was only three minutes from our home. As you can probably assume, I missed many turns, drove down my fair share of one-way roads in the entirely wrong direction, and couldn’t see anything at night. The beautiful thing about Apple Maps, it tracks your driving in real time and can adjust your route as soon as you make mistakes. When God speaks to you and asks for you to give something up, be better in an area of discipline, or encourages you to spend more time with Him, it is a redirection (towards growth) to put you in the accurate destination. Listen to the Holy Spirit guiding you to grow closer to God. A few ways God could be speaking to you are:
Giving up addiction
Leaving sinful patterns
Caring for your health (mental, physical, emotional)
Feeling encouraged to pray/read your bible
Leaving toxic relationships
Creating more Godly friendships
Seeking Discipleship from a pastor or believer
Loving people like Jesus did
Inspiring you to serve your local church
Encouraging generosity in you
*This is a small list of examples*
However God desires to speak, allow Him a space in your life. Not just to speak into some of who you are, but all of you. If this is something you have found yourself walking through, allow me the privilege of praying with you:
Great stuff! An illuminating illustration