90 miles an hour in the dark with the headlights off

September 24, 2007 at 10:11 pm (Christian life) (God's wrath, Hebrews 2:1, Sin, sinner, speeding)

this was the title of a pop Christian song a number of years ago, but it was also the true account of my first driving ticket. 90 mph in a 45 zone at night with no headlights. no real excuses -just plain stupidity! thought of that today, when listening to a john piper sermon in which he said something to the effect of, “most of you are more concerned about the blue lights in the mirror than you are the impending wrath of God.” that was me at the age of 16 -i was absolutely terrified by the policeman coming up to my window.  and the next time after that, and the next time after that, and the next time after that, and -ok, you get the idea. yes, i’ve been pulled over several times and i’m not proud of any of them. i got to thinking as piper continued preaching through my headphones, “at some point, i lost the fear of the policeman in my mirror.” oh, i don’t mean i’m a hard-hearted criminal now. i mean, on the few (note the word “few”) occasions i do get pulled over these days, i don’t get that nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. the danger is, we can get that way with other things in life too, most importantly sin and God’s wrath. one of the main points of the book of Hebrews is that if you don’t pay close attention to your faith, you will drift. when you drift, you forget the absolute dreadfulness of sin and you forget the awful truth that God’s wrath rests upon the ungodly. just like i pay much closer attention to the speed limit now because the price is too high for me to pay to do otherwise, let us “pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” -Hebrews 2:1