1. Give the keys to Jesus.
Letting anyone drive our vehicle is tough. I admit that at times I’m not the best passenger, especially when it’s my vehicle. Just ask my wife.
And just for the record, I think my wife’s a great driver. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t let her take my kids around!
My dad’s a great driver. I have absolutely no problem trusting my dad when he’s behind the wheel.
The vehicle could be on fire and I’d still be able to ride knowing that if anyone could get us through that scrape, it would be my dad.
Do you “hit the brakes” on the passenger side when you think the driver’s going to fast?
I think that just about everyone who’s been driving a while secretly thinks they are the best driver around, especially when it comes to how they operate their own vehicle.
They know how the car reacts to certain situations, how hard you need to crank the steering wheel at a corner, the feel of the brakes, the location of all the controls, etc.
And they think that they can control that car better than anyone else.
So when they hand the keys to someone else, they’re thinking things like, “Don’t jam the brakes down. Slow down before you get too close to the corner. Don’t touch the radio!”
What’s the bottom-line issue about letting someone else drive your car? Let’s assume that the driver has lots of experience and has never been in an accident or received a ticket.
So what’s the problem? The problem with letting someone else drive is that we have no control. And that’s scary.
It’s my car, and I want control over it.
It’s not a perfect analogy but it’s exactly why people won’t let Jesus take the wheel of their lives. They’re afraid to give up control.
Am I right? I know I am. I was the same way – still am, at times.
But let me tell you that when I finally said to Jesus, “Look – I’m tired of struggling on my own power to do this ‘Christian’ thing – I’m tired of falling on my face trying to live for you on my own – I’m tired of trying to make my own decisions about life – You take over,” my life went in a whole new direction.
And I found out that the Creator knew how to control the car of my life better than me – since He created it in the first place, for His purposes.
This giving the keys to Jesus does not happen by default. It takes an intentional, determined act of the will.
You have to say to tell Jesus that He’s in control. It’s not easy, and to be perfectly frank, there will be times when you wonder if it was the best thing to do.
But I know that I speak for a number of people in this room who will tell you that it’s the best thing they ever did in terms of getting past the lip-service Christianity that most people live with.