Don’t Drive the Dead Car
I remember giving our oldest son his first car. It was our old car, but it was new to him. He was excited to get it, but it ended up being quite the learning experience for him. He had to pay insurance, he had to put gas in it, and he had to give it routine maintenance. All these things were easier said than done and over a couple years, the car died. It died, died. There was no driving that thing again. Anytime he tried, it got him nowhere and cost him a whole lot of time and money. Christians could learn something from this experience.
Look at Romans 6:1-2, “…Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” When we are born again, it’s like we’ve been given a new car. If we stick with the new car it will take us further. It will benefit our life more. It will make us happier. Life will be easier. See, when our son had gotten a new car, it would have been foolish for him to have kept trying to drive the old one. Imagine him going to that junk yard and trying to sit in that car, trying to turn the ignition over, trying to live like he still belonged in that old car, while all the while his new one was sitting in the parking lot ready to go. It’s kind of a funny picture, isn’t it?
Our old life, by the grace of God, has been made dead to us! 2 Corinthians 5:17, tells us, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Jesus did so much more than just give us a new car. We were lost and living to die, but he made us alive! He made us new! Just as we no longer want to keep driving a dead car because that dead car isn’t getting us anywhere, we no longer want to keep trying to live in our past, because that dead life isn’t getting us anywhere! Living new, living for Him, that’s what takes us places.
Let’s read, 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” We’re joint heirs with Christ according to scripture, and our lives are meant to be lived to the praise of the Lord. We no longer need to live dead and in darkness. Now, we must live alive in the light of His Word. Look at the next two verses in this passage of scripture, verses 11-12, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” We were once inclined to live by the flesh, like the rest of this world, but now, we must incline ourselves to His sayings in order to live by the Word and Spirit and conduct ourselves in the newness of this Christian life. As we live right, as we go about this life in this born anew vessel, others will glorify God as a result. Yes, we’ll take others along for the ride!
Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…”
Be Blessed,
Pastor Renee
