Do I Need to Turn This Car Around Right Now?

If you're smiling at the title, you are either a parent or remember your own parents' threat, accompanied by The Look.

When you ask your children that question, it's usually an empty threat designed to scare them into compliance. And you've no doubt perfected The Look that your mother gave you.

However, those words are really a choice and your kids have the option of seeing if you mean it. Any kid with a shred of sense won't push it that far, but there are always those kids...

Even adults are faced with this choice. When we desire to move forward with the life God has for us, there are going to be speed bumps, curves, and one-way-streets that do not look passable. Often He asks us to do things that are uncomfortable and outside the realm of what we expected. 

We balk.

It is then that God turns around and gives us The Look. "Do you really want to stop right here? Is this as much of Me as you want? Is this as far as you want to go with Me? Do I need to put you out on the side of the road and use someone else to accomplish my plans?"

We have a choice to make. We can stop right there, settle for lukewarm, turn our faces away from the prize and say, "Yeah, that's far enough. This is too hard. I want to be back in charge."

God never gives empty threats. If we demand the right to be charge of our lives, He gives it to us. But in that act He also withdraws His protection, His peace, His security, and His fellowship. We can still go through the motions of Christian living, but the Light is gone. And often we don't know why.

We all have those areas of personal goodness that come easily and we take inordinate pride in them. Maybe you're a giver. Giving money to worthy causes is easy for you. Makes you feel good about yourself and you are satisfied that by being generous, you're right where God wants you to be.

When you're ready to move on with God, that won't be the spot where He threatens to turn the car around. To become all he wants you to be will require something you're not comfortable with. Maybe He's asking you to let go of a childhood pain, forgive an ex-spouse, teach a Sunday School class, ask forgiveness from someone. You'll know. He's always very clear about it when He knows we're serious about hearing.

You can ignore it, turn your face away, talk yourself out of it, or pretend that everything's fine and hope He forgets about it. But it is in that moment, He opens the car door and out you go. You're still His favorite child, but He can't take you anywhere anymore. The heart-to-heart fellowship is gone and now a shadow clouds your prayers and your worship.

OR...

You can grit your teeth and rush to obey. The moment you do, relief floods back into your soul. It's like someone turned the lights on. There's no barrier between you and God.

Obedience brings the smile back to His face and you can move together down the road. Obedience in every single area keeps the light glowing in your relationship. It keeps the shadow from your prayers and allows pure-hearted worship to flow from your deepest core with no reserve.

So when you close your eyes to pray, do you see The Look? Is He going to have to turn the car around because He can't take you any farther? Your capacity to experience God stops at the spot where you say no. 

Do you really want to spend the rest of your life right where you are?

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