When we are on our journey of faith, we talk about the sign posts, the twists and curves in the road, in other words, the things that make our journey either easier or harder.
What about the rumble strips? I am thankful for two sets, the ones to slow us down when approaching a rail crossing or the ones on the side of the road.
Let’s the rumble strips at a crossing. Let also think of the strips as the law or guidelines that God gives us to guide us not dictate. We can abuse the strips as we approach and experience a nasty ride and this is also not good for the car!
So the strips (the law) are not there to make our ride difficult but there as a help warning of possible danger. Once passed the strips if you have ignored the warning you may very well ignore the ‘STOP’ sign at the crossing. Could this be fatal?
Also, when out on a country road and approaching the STOP sign – there is no train, no one else around to see, do you obey the ‘STOP’ sign or keep going? Could this reflect on the times we do the wrong thing just because no one is watching?
Let us now look at the rumble strips on the side of the road remembering that God’s law have a role to play in making our journey easier, therefore keep us on track.
The rumble strips on the side of the road are there to rumble the car when it starts to veer off the road. Imagine driving on the rumble strips the whole way to your destination thinking, “This isn’t a very good road!”
Well the rumble strips are not meant to be the road (like God’s law), they are there to mark the side of the road – to keep us on track. They are not there for us to drive on, they are there to point to where we should be heading.
It is the same with God’s law. We don’t drive on the law, the law isn’t the road. The law is there to point to where the road is and to let us know when we veer off the road.
We shouldn’t be focusing on the rumble strips but on the road. In fact, when Christians become law focused we become about as pleasant as driving on a rumble strip.
The road is our relationship with God, his Spirit will guide us. The rumble strips (the law) are there in case we wander off.
So our journey of faith will always be smooth if the road is our relationship with God. The rumble strips (God’s law) are there to keep us going forward.
Fr Michael
