The road ahead: is your Christian presence visible or not?

The Physical Road Experience

We’ve read many times where a vehicle has left the roadway because the operator was distracted, not familiar with the vehicle or road, weather conditions, speeding, and more. We must read the owner’s manual, and be vigilant about conditions around us.

How many times have we heard of rescue efforts, towing charges and fees, embarrassment and anxieties by family and friends? We drivers can become mired in high weeds and brush. We can get stuck in the swampy median areas between expressway roadways. In serious cases, we can go off bridges into creek beds or rivers and get swept away. The consequences can vary from inconvenience to death.

The Spiritual Road Experience

The comparison becomes clear in our walk in Christ, when we:

• Don’t pay attention to circumstances around us
• Get caught up in spiritual maintenance issues
• Function at less than our best.

We remember when everything hummed along without incident, can’t we? We also remember when it got a little rough, and it took extra concentration to stay on the right road. We also recall when family or friends met with near-disaster, because they didn’t read the owner’s manual (the Bible) or maintain awareness of their surroundings.

The Connection

When vehicle makers create owner’s manuals, they have a vested interest in making sure the vehicle meets the buyer’s expectations. There are tips, warnings, recommendations and mandatory instructions to keep you and others safe. The vehicle manufacturer wants others to see YOU in their product, so others will be tempted to purchase it as well. In the Bible, there are tips, warnings, recommendations and mandatory instructions to keep us and others safe from the spiritual hazards of this world.

If we are off in the weeds paying fines for income tax issues where we tried to bend the rules, partially submerged in a swampy place because of marriage infidelity, or upside down in a creek bed because of immoral or improper business decisions, we can’t be seen. God wants us to be seen by others, traveling at work or home, living our Christian lives safely and responsibly. God wants us to live so that others can follow us to the foot of the cross, where they may receive eternal life.

“Lord, keep us vigilant and out of the weeds, so we can be an example of You in our lives. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”