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Do I seriously follow God’s commandments whenever I can?
I wonder what difference police officers experience on the road as drivers. During work hours, they drive about in vehicles that are clearly identifiable as police cars. But during off-hours, they drive about in cars that blend right in with the rest of ours. And I wonder how different those two experiences are.
My guess is that when an officer drives an ordinary car, he or she sees a lot of ordinary driving. People exceed the speed limit, they signal less, they hurry through yellow lights, and they observe some stop signs rather casually. On the other hand, when an officer drives in a recognizable police car, I expect they find themselves surrounded by exemplary drivers.
The sight of a police car inspires a real carefulness in most of us. We become commendably attentive to everything we’re doing and to all the rules of the road. We set our phones aside, put both hands on the wheel, and remember all the good habits we were taught when we first learned how to drive.
The look of such careful driving brings Moses to mind. When Moses said his farewell to the children of Israel, he impressed upon them all of the benefits that come with living God’s way. It is a magnificent litany, as we read how the blessings of God will touch every area of life and permeate every aspect of the people’s existence. Yet all of it is contingent upon one condition. At the very beginning of the chapter, Moses tells the people, “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:1 NASB). Then come the promises and the blessings.
“Diligently obey.” “Careful to do.” We know what that looks like when the police car is near. Likewise, we know what carefulness is when handling something that is brand-new, fragile, or expensive. And we know what diligence is when managing an important responsibility. Such carefulness and diligence, Moses would tell us, is meant to be the look of how we treat the commandments of God.
On the other hand, we also know what it looks like to be casual, to cut corners, to play fast and loose. The things we handle carefully are preserved. The things that we handle carelessly, on the other hand, are often broken, including the laws of God.
Thus we are challenged by the question from Mr. Wesley: “Do I seriously follow God’s commandments whenever I can?”
It’s a self-diagnostic question, and so we will have to be honest with ourselves in order to answer it properly. But we should know the answer because we know the difference between what it looks like to be careful and to be careless. We are familiar with the diligence of drivers when the police officer is near. And so we should be able to discern in ourselves the degree to which we are handling the law of God with the seriousness and care it deserves.
Our experience as Christians, of course, differs from the experience of drivers in two important respects.
First, we observe that the way people drive changes when a police officer is nearby, but how we live out the commandments of God does not feature that sort of variation. We live, after all, with a constant sense of God’s nearness. During this season of the year, we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel—God with us—and so we obey carefully at all times because we know we are in God’s presence at all times.
And, second, most folks’ compliance to traffic laws is motivated by self-interest. We don’t want either the expense or the danger of breaking the law. But our careful obedience of God is of a higher sort. “If you love Me,” Jesus said, “you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15 NASB). Just as his coming to us was motivated by love, so, too, our obedience to him is motivated by love. We will follow well the commandments of God when they are not about tickets or accidents, but about love.
Rev. David Kalas