Sunday Drive Faith
When I was growing up, occassionally my family would go on Sunday drives. It wasn't a common occurrence, but I do remember the few times we would do it. Sometimes we were looking for cans in the ditches (this was before the days of "bottle bills" so looking for cans was a lucrative pasttime), but most of the time, we were just driving. I thought it was a time of torture, but for my parents and grandparents it was the equivalent of me spending an afternoon in the coffeeshop--relaxing and serenely enjoyable.
Today, most people drive to get places. I think our society in general is much more busy than it was back then so we always have somewhere to go. But back then, when gas was $.69 a gallon, you could drive around with nowhere to go. Going nowhere...
I think going nowhere is one of our greatest temptations in life. We like to coast, to be on an eternal "Sunday drive." This works fine for a while. It IS relaxing. We CAN unload some stress. but after a while, it makes life boring. In fact, it's a very unsatisfying way to live.
I believe our lives are intended to go somewhere. We have a beginning point and an end point. Genesis says we were created a certain way--in the image of God. In the fall, we lost (at least partially) that image. Our purpose, our destination, then is to regain that image. Jesus gave us the ability through His work on the cross. He also gave us the example through His life and teaching.
Sunday drives are great, provided we don't have something important to do. On the other hand, if you DO have somewhere to go, but are just out wandering around the countryside, we call it irresponsible. How many times have people driven around thinking, "I should really do X," but never really get around to it.
The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9, "I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I do not run like a man running aimlessly...
I'm afraid I spend too much of my life on a Sunday drive, running aimlessly. I think, "I should really stop being selfish and treat my wife better," or "I should really be more intentional about reaching out to hurting people," or "I should..." What if I would just stop living in the future that never seems to come about and be right now, what I know I should? What if, instead of spending all my time thinking about what I should do, I made a plan and did it? How much weight would I lose? How much better would my marriage be? How much more like Christ would I be right now if I lived my life that way?
Now that it's out there, I guess I should really do it--there I go again.
Today, most people drive to get places. I think our society in general is much more busy than it was back then so we always have somewhere to go. But back then, when gas was $.69 a gallon, you could drive around with nowhere to go. Going nowhere...
I think going nowhere is one of our greatest temptations in life. We like to coast, to be on an eternal "Sunday drive." This works fine for a while. It IS relaxing. We CAN unload some stress. but after a while, it makes life boring. In fact, it's a very unsatisfying way to live.
I believe our lives are intended to go somewhere. We have a beginning point and an end point. Genesis says we were created a certain way--in the image of God. In the fall, we lost (at least partially) that image. Our purpose, our destination, then is to regain that image. Jesus gave us the ability through His work on the cross. He also gave us the example through His life and teaching.
Sunday drives are great, provided we don't have something important to do. On the other hand, if you DO have somewhere to go, but are just out wandering around the countryside, we call it irresponsible. How many times have people driven around thinking, "I should really do X," but never really get around to it.
The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9, "I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." I do not run like a man running aimlessly...
I'm afraid I spend too much of my life on a Sunday drive, running aimlessly. I think, "I should really stop being selfish and treat my wife better," or "I should really be more intentional about reaching out to hurting people," or "I should..." What if I would just stop living in the future that never seems to come about and be right now, what I know I should? What if, instead of spending all my time thinking about what I should do, I made a plan and did it? How much weight would I lose? How much better would my marriage be? How much more like Christ would I be right now if I lived my life that way?
Now that it's out there, I guess I should really do it--there I go again.
Labels: 1 Corinthians 9, aimlessness, purpose, sunday drive, wandering
posted by Kory at
10:54 AM
1 Comments:
I'm sure you've heard me say it before, but I have that problem too... It reminds me of the thoughts in my head on spiritual disciplines. I know what the disciplines are. I have a good idea of why I should do them. I even have a cursory experience of how helpful they are. But they're still hard to do, day by day, consistently.
I think there's a lot to be said for "the spiritual journey" being mostly about living "rightly" every day. It's easy to be episodically Christian, but endurance is the goal.
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