Back Seat Driver

Monday, 18. January 2010 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

Just this morning, I got lost on my way to pick up my friend Scott. In my defense, I’ve only lived in Champaign for 12 years. To compound matters, as we were making our way downtown, I took a wrong turn again. There’s something to be said for consistency.

As we toured greater Champaign, Scott was far too gracious to point out any of my errors. For one of the first times in my life, I caught myself wishing he’d been a backseat driver and saved me from taking the embarrassingly long route into town.

So maybe backseat drivers get a bum rap after all.

I’ve got to share a little of the magic I’ve recently reaped just from allowing God to gradually move from the back seat to the passenger seat to the driver’s seat. Mind you, this is nothing if not an ongoing process, one which started in late December with a persistent whisper:

“You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” –1st Corinthians 6:19-20

I am not my own. Some decisions are not mine to make; in fact, Someone else has earned the right to make them for me.

Inside each of us, there is this intricate game of tug-of-war going on, where this notion (that I am God’s and not my own) strangely co-exists with the concept of free will. On the surface, God might come off as oppressive. But in the last couple weeks, as I have oh-so-gradually applied this truth to more areas of my life, I’ve found this as liberating as it is effective.

Let’s get practical. Based on the Scripture above, I’ll share 2 ways God has literally changed my life in the past few weeks:

1) This discovery—that I am God’s, and that my life is His, too—has proven to be a phenomenal weapon against temptation.

Satan likes to delude us into thinking we have the power to make the call. And sometimes, that’s all the wiggle room our minds need to make a destructive choice. To lust after someone, I don’t have the right to even consider that option—the decision’s been made for me. That’s so liberating. Do I keep eating out of pure desire, or do I back away and eat rather out of necessity? Suddenly, it’s not my call to make.

“And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” - 2nd Corinthians 5:15

I don’t believe it was hubris which blocked me from previously taking advantage of this weapon; no, it was more ignorance than arrogance. I didn’t realize this other-worldly power which is crammed into the simple realization that I am God’s. My life is His, not my own.

2) Coming to grips with the reality that I am His and not my own has allowed me to embrace the present.

Unlike previously, I haven’t been nearly as consumed by unfulfilled dreams or unmet desires. I would say those desires are all still there, they haven’t changed.

They just don’t matter as much.

“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” - Jeremiah 10:23

When I’m living for Dan, coping with unrealized ambitions can be a painful process. But when I’m actually living for Jesus, then it’s simply not the biggest deal in the world anymore. Jesus’ desires trump mine; His purposes cut past mine to the front of the line. Again, it’s extremely freeing.

“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”  - Romans 14:7-8

I’m really learning what it feels like to die to one’s self and live for God instead. And I gotta tell you—it feels an awful lot like a reception, not a funeral.

I pray each of you has enjoyed the peace which Jesus has blessed me with lately. It’s a tidal wave that has rushed into every area of my life.
Sorry—His life.