Hebrews 13:7-9
While we were living in Romania, our family and one of the families on our mission team took a vacation to the Black Sea coast. We rented a van and I was driving. We were driving through the countryside, getting pretty close to the Black Sea coast and I saw a police officer standing by the side of the road waving a piece of wood that was about 18” long, painted with red and white stripes. I knew he was waving me over, so I pulled over.
In Romania, at least at that time, you could rent and drive a car with an American drivers license and your passport. So, when I pulled over, I got my license and passport ready and I handed them to the officer. He obviously knew immediately that I was a foreigner. He asked me if I knew why he had pulled me over. I said I did not know. I try to drive the speed limit if not a little above the speed limit all the time.
He told me that I was driving outside of the county where the van was registered without having the headlights on. Under Romanian law – which I had not paid attention to – you have to have your headlights on if you are driving outside the county, even in broad daylight. I thanked the officer for the information and he let me go without giving me a ticket. Which he obviously could have done.
The kingdom of God is different than the kingdoms of men. The kingdom of God has a different culture than the kingdoms of men. So when we become Christians, we might have to make some drastic changes. We have the expression, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” We learned the reality of that when we lived in Romania. When it comes to the spiritual kingdom, the statement is, “When in Christianity, do as the Christ does.”
Serving Jesus means we have to make a major life choice – we put Him first. We submit to His teachings and we trust Him to uphold His end of the deal – taking care of us. It’s not about reading the Bible more. It’s not about praying more. It’s not about having more faith. It’s not about more… It’s about turning your heart and your life over to Jesus and surrendering to Him completely. Think about this…
When God decided to make man in His image, He didn’t do it halfway…
When God chose to redeem mankind, He didn’t do it halfway…
When Jesus suffered for your sins, He didn’t do it halfway either…
When Jesus defends us on the day of judgment, we don’t want Him to do it halfway either!
So we need to choose Him all the way – full-time, 100%, all the way – heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Keep your faith alive and fresh by staying focused on the purity of Jesus Christ and His teachings.
Paul Holland
