The Dashboard of Our Hearts
The other day my check engine light came on. I just got the car, and it is almost brand new, so my heart sunk thinking there was a serious issue. I used my diagnostic tool to discover that the check engine light was on because of a loose gas cap. After tightening it, the warning went away. How attuned are you to the signals of your heart—right, or wrong? Are there intense warnings for minor problems? Are there no warnings at all for a serious issue?
If you are quickly enraged at the farm truck going 5 mph below the speed limit in front of you, that should be a blinking light on the dashboard of your heart—your engine is running hot! Maybe the thought of slowing down to the speed limit makes your blood boil. That itself should be cause for warning. Why do we get stirred up over these small things? The Bible teaches us that difficult circumstances draw out of us who we truly are (Luke 6:45; Proverbs 9:7–9; 15:28). Be quick to say with the psalmist, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24).
In these seemingly inconsequential moments, the Christian is to be patient, content, gracious, and prayerful. Christianity is the only worldview that can transform something so apparently insignificant and admittedly annoying as speed limits into a way to rejoice in God. Seek contentment knowing that God is working every circumstance for your good, for “godliness with contentment is great gain,” (1 Timothy 6:6), even when you are in a bumper-to-bumper standstill.
Our Spiritual Blindspots
For a long time, I never put much thought into why I drive the way I do. How much does God really care if I drive 5 mph over the limit? Well, clearly God cares that we obey the governing authorities in general since Romans 13, Titus 3 and 1 Peter 2 have sections explicitly devoted to the topic. They repeat admonitions to “be subject to the governing authorities,” (Romans 13:1); to “be submissive to rulers and authorities” (Titus 3:1).
Christians should seek to be obedient to these admonitions, but should we apply these passages to little things like speeding? 1 Peter 2:13–17 instructs that we are to “be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him.” Peter was communicating that all of the legal instructions of the authorities were binding on citizens. It is difficult to imagine Peter or Paul saying, “Obey the emperor, but don’t worry about the written edict he posted yesterday.”
Pumping the Breaks
There are a number of genuinely thoughtful pushbacks to always following the speed limit, but three of the most common objections are that 1) the police themselves do not care if you are slightly over the limit, 2) that sometimes you must speed and 3) that following the speed limit is overly meticulous, unnecessary legalism.
The first is essentially saying “You won’t get penalized; therefore, it is okay.” Apply this logic to any other law and it will be apparently erroneous. With regard to legalism, if we are interested in maximizing our joy in God that means obeying him. The desire to know and be obedient to God is rooted in delight in him, but legalism is based upon delight in self. Let us be careful with accusing believers of legalism who are genuinely trying to be obedient. As to extenuating circumstances, these are often understandable exceptions. For example, if a car is merging near me from an on-ramp onto a speedy highway, sometimes it is wise to speed up to create a pocket for them. Or if my child is not breathing, I will try my best to quickly get them to the hospital. In these moments, I personally have no problem responsibly accelerating beyond the limit.
That said, how often do we speed for these exceptions rather than convenience, expediency, or mere habit? How often do we think about how to better “honor the emperor,” or how to “be submissive to rulers—how do we practically obey these passages in our lives?” My goal here is not necessarily to convince you that speeding is a sin, but rather to encourage you to regularly think about whether your unconscious habits are in line with Scripture and if you are quick to make excuses or quick to submit to the Lord, eager to resist or ready to press Scripture into your life.
Driving it Home
If you are at church for around two hours every week, you will cumulatively be there around 40 weeks over your whole life. We guard this time and treat it as holy—as we ought! But over the course of your life, you will cumulatively spend three years behind the wheel. Is this a trivial part of your life? We must present our unconscious, mundane routines before God and be ready for him to make changes. We need to regularly reorient our hearts and minds to examine why we make certain decisions—not just with our speeding habits, but with everything we do.
I expect you can relate when I confess that there are entire days—weeks even, during busy seasons—where I neglect to pray, reflect on the Word, or seek Christian community in my activities. I am often on an autopilot of self-sufficiency and self-absorption, and I forget to seek God’s comfort, help, and guidance. On Sunday morning I discover through teary eyes the countless ways I could become more Christlike, but on Monday I neglect to look for practical ways to do this.
Let us practice our drives as rituals of holiness. Let us consider our morning commutes as liturgies of evaluating our behaviors. Let us sanctify and wield each hour given to us to orient our hearts to our Lord.
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