We changed insurance companies recently, and, naturally, we want to pay the cheapest rates possible. So, we enrolled in a 90-day evaluation where we installed devices in our vehicles to track our driving habits. Good habits = rate reduction (up to 30%!). Bad habits…well, we get 5% off just for participating.
A few weeks in, I have realized two truths about these devices, and they say a lot about our need for a personal Savior.
First, I can’t wait for the 90 days to be over so that if I feel like mashing my accelerator there will be no penalty (well, if I’m careful). This is the “law” of the device revealing my depravity (okay, that is an overstatement, but you get the drift). If I am prone to the dangerous – or in some cases illegal – habits of “lighting it up” or “power braking” or the like, then the device will reveal that activity, and that tendency. This is pretty much Paul’s point in Romans 7:7-25. God’s law was given to function like my truck’s tracking device – it tells it like it is, comparing my behaviors and exposing my desires in relation to a set standard.
God’s law is more demanding and more effective, though. If I have too many “hits” on my truck’s tracker, I will lose deductions on my insurance – but I will still have my insurance. But when I get one “hit” on God’s tracker, I am disqualified altogether: James 2:10 (ESV) “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
So, my first tracker truth is this: the law is only going to condemn me.
Well, to give myself some credit, I HAVE thus far managed to resist the temptation to drive recklessly. And I’m pretty confident I can make it through the 90 days without giving in to my impulses – I want that discount!
But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been flagged with any hits – we have. And this has shown me the other truth. Last we checked, we had 3 hits for hard braking. Well, okay those are all on ME – my wife hasn’t had ANY so far. But, I am being unjustly accused of recklessness! In all 3 cases my hard braking was because of traffic lights turning yellow just before I reached the intersection. I stand to be penalized for my efforts to OBEY the law, because the tracker simply records limited data. It only knows that I braked hard, but it does not understand the circumstances, nor can it make any judgment about whether my actions were justified. I would need a person for that. If our agent was in the car with me in those 3 events, he would be able to say, “Oh, don’t worry about that flag. I know you weren’t being reckless, but were actually doing the right thing.”
So, too, when it comes to my eternal destiny, I need something GREATER than a law that can only condemn. I need a Person who can save. Someone who has ALL the information, who is always in the car with me. Someone who is just, but also Someone who is gracious. The law does what it is supposed to, but I need something more. I need a Person.
And that is my second tracker truth: I need a Person to save me.
Of course, the analogy falls short here. For God’s righteousness does not allow him to explain away my hits – not even one “flag.” He knows what is right, and he knows everything, and it turns out that all of my failures in life are legitimately wrongdoing on my part. But in his perfect love and abounding grace, he has replaced my “data” with his own: the perfect record of his Son, Jesus Christ. I stand qualified. This is Paul’s point in Romans 8:1-11. Now, THAT’S insurance! We usually call it “eternal security.”
And if you understand I am looking forward to the end of this 90-day evaluation, imagine how great it will be when I come to the end of this life and see my Savior face-to-face! The law will help you realize who you really are, but make sure you have something greater, that you have a personal Savior.
Nice writing.
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