Beginning this Friday afternoon, I will be ¾ of the way done with my freshman year of college, and I’ll be touring down south with my college worship band, Hope-Overflow.
We’ll be traveling down to Dallas, Texas to serve others and worship God through singing, dancing, and rocking out to some awesome jams we’ve got on our set.
But before I get to do all of that fun stuff, I have a long to-do list that needs to be completed, and a lot of distractions that like to keep me from what I need to be doing.
Proverbs 16:9
“A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”
Over the past few days (really the entire school year, but anyways), I have been pushing myself to work harder and farther than I think I can go. I have started to get up at 5:30am, get a nice workout in, drink coffee, and go on with my day.
While it’s (sort of) working, I’ve felt that God has been trying to give me signs to look more at Him, especially during challenging and busy times in college.
Along with signing up for the local gas station coffee rewards program, I had yet to drink a good bit of coffee this past Tuesday, and I just about (completely) ran a red light.
Right away, I looked around to see if anyone had seen me do it, to which I found no witnesses, and I was feeling AWESOME! (for about 20 more seconds)
The last time I could remember running a red light, I was 14 years old, and had just gotten my driver’s permit to drive with an adult. My grandfather let me drive his ginormous tank of a Chevy Tahoe through Charleston, South Carolina traffic. Being inexperienced as a driver and wild with imagination, I thought the vehicle could pull off zooming through a yellow light from 100 feet away knowing darn well that I had seen it happen in a movie before. So I stand on the gas pedal (almost literally as I wasn’t all that big), and fly through the light.
When I looked over at my grandfather, expecting Him to applaud me and offer me a high-five and a smile, I got the complete opposite as he’s holding onto his life, squeezing the handle above the passenger window in fear and anger.
It was then, and now, that I realized how foolish I was to think I could press on and show that yellow light who’s boss.
One thing that I came up with on Tuesday, after my 20 seconds of victorious splendor running the red light, was this analogy that best connected my faith with the stupid traffic lights that make me late all the time.
The green light, I think is pretty obvious. We don’t have to really think about it because we know that it is a good decision that would ultimately honor God, so we keep on going.
The red light is also very obvious. If we go through a red light, there are always going to be consequences. Some consequences come quickly, and some come over time.
But the yellow light is what gets me every single time.
The yellow light is where we have to decide whether to stand on it, medal to the pedal, or be patient and wait for a clearer answer. God is giving us a warning that we should be prepared to stop and not continue.
God gives us peace through the yellow lights in our lives.
It says in Romans 8:28:
And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Just as a stubborn child will continually disobey their parents after they’ve been warned before, we also can be stubborn. We understand that there’s a chance that we may run a red light in our life, but we’ve developed a mindset that as long as the light isn’t red yet, we can make it.
“I can do it, and God, you better be coming with me because it’s me and you, pal!”
No. It’s God and you. God leads…...and you are to follow.
It is God who directs the crazy traffic in your life.
I don’t believe that God had His son specifically die for each and every sin that will ever take place, therefore making it ok for us to continually sin. I believe that God had Jesus die on the cross so that we would begin to live a brand new life for Him. Not a life for ourselves.
You do not control God’s traffic for your life, so slow down and listen when God presents a yellow light in your life. Don't ignore it because you'll eventually run into the result from doing so.
God knows when a car is going to run a red light and hit another car just as He knows when everyone is going to go from Earth to Heaven.
God knows the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
All you need to do is buckle up and trust that He will protect you both physically and spiritually.
Ask yourself this:
1. What yellow lights come to your mind?
2. Why do we often try and do our own thing when we see God's way as the slower, inferior option?
3. How are you going to live your life knowing your life is in God's hands and not your own?
Pray: Ask God to continue to protect both your mind, heart, and physical self throughout your journey with Him. Ask Him to help light your path, whether that light be green, yellow, or red.
Be obedient in following your heart; your heart which God has put himself in the very center of.
Go and be a light as you seek The Light.
With that said,
Live, love, and be loved.
Commenti