Rookie Driver

Once I was driving my son to music practice. While I was talking to him, he suddenly exclaimed, “Dad, you made the wrong turn, we are not going to Grandma’s place.” He was right, because I often take this route to visit my mom. Without paying attention, I mistakenly turned to that direction. This is the kind of mistake only veteran drivers can make, when they mean to go to one place, but drive to a different place instead. A rookie driver, without forming his own cruise control system, must pay full attention to the road. He would neither have the leisure to talk, nor feel relaxed enough to doze, and certainly less likely drive to a place by mistake.

Christians often make similar mistakes. After conversion, we ought to live our lives like a rookie driver does: to carefully follow God’s Word as lamp to our feet and light to our way. With undivided attention we would drive our life on a heavenly way. However, conversion does not turn our life into a fairy tale far removed from life’s struggles. We still have the same old life to care about, in a way we have cared about it for so long. We are all veteran drivers of our own life. The reality is that conversion does bring in a new driver into our life, and with the old driver never wants to retire. Thus, every Christian must choose which driver he wants to sit behind the wheel each and every day of his life. These two drivers would take you to different destinations, as the Scripture says, ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Rom. 8:5 ESV) Which driver is in the driver’s seat of your life now? Is it the veteran driver following the flesh, or the new driver following the Spirit? If you want to follow the Spirit, you must suffer the pain of a rookie driver, and watch out for the old driver who is always seeking an opportunity to sneak back into your driver’s seat. When we find ourselves worrying about life, gossiping about others, or thinking about treating someone an eye for an eye, it revealed the old driving pattern of the flesh. As soon as we realize that, we must get him out of the driver’s seat right away.

Five years ago, I went to Christchurch, New Zealand for a business trip. I rented a car from the airport. Even though I was a veteran driver, that was my first time driving on the left side of the road. This is no joke. As soon as I sat in the driver’s seat, I kept mumbling this one word over and over, “Left! Left!” With that, I slowly drove out of the parking lot in an apparent wavy fashion, because there was a constant fight between my mind and my hands: my mind chose left, but my hands preferred right. Mistakes still happened with such a total focus. After my first right turn, to my horror I saw I was driving right toward an incoming monster truck. In shock, I yelled to myself, “Left!” and shifted the car to the left side of the road just in time. Every day I would drive around kept mumbling to myself “left, left, left.”  It took about a week of intensive training for the rookie New Zealand driver to sit tight in my mind without the disturbance of the North America driver. Later on, I was confident enough to drive across Arthur’s Pass to the west coast and visit the famous Paparoa National Park and enjoyed the thousand-kilometer sightseeing road trip in one day.

In a similar way, we have this old driver of flesh in residence. He always struggles with the new driver who follows the Spirit, but we must force him out of the driver’s seat, as it is written, ⁶For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom. 8:6 ESV) As a North American who goes to New Zealand, if you do not force your North America driver to retire, he would kill you in no time. Every moment we must yield the driver’s seat to the Spirit, and this is our daily spiritual discipline. For that we have words to mumble as well, that is the Word of God, the Way of Eternal Life. As we become skilled in the word of righteousness, the promised life and peace will be overflowing along our path.
Prayer: O Lord! Help us to follow the Spirit and never give room for the flesh, because the way to destruction is wide, and it is the destination for all blind drivers. Help us open our eyes and stay awake, and follow you to daily deny ourselves, for this the only way for eternal life!