Good Tires and Good Brakes

 

I was driving two days ago, and it had been raining.  We have a dangerous intersection near our house, but it was particularly dangerous two days ago.  First, it is downhill with a stop sign at the bottom.  Second, it had been raining and the road was slick.  Third, there were fallen leaves all over the road making it extra slick.  And last, it was a curve down to the stop sign.  I stopped at the intersection, but I heard screeching tires behind me.  I looked back in my rearview mirror to see a pick-up truck slide off the road and down a dirt embankment.  I paused to see if he was alright, and he was.  No damage was done to his vehicle, he was just in the ditch.  Two more cars pulled in behind me, so I had to move on.  I was fortunate because it wasn’t me that slid off the road, and he hadn’t hit me from behind.  I had bought good tires and had good brakes.  I was ready for the bad weather and slick roads.  And the same is true of my spiritual life.  I have made my decision with Jesus Christ, so I am ready for the hard times that are ahead of me.  But the pick-up truck driver behind me wasn’t ready for the danger that came to him.  Hey, I wonder if he is ready for the spiritual hard times that are ahead of him?  Let’s go one step further.  Are you ready for your hard times that lie ahead of you?!  Believe me when I say that hard times will come to you.  The old apostle John wrote in I John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”