Disciplines for Drivers and Disciples
by Joel Bates
I love adrenaline sports as much as the next guy, but little did I know teaching my children how to drive would offer the ultimate adrenaline rush!
Seeing my daughter’s look of sheer delight, I just knew this first lesson was going to be fun. I had no doubt she was eager to be in the driver’s seat, but then again maybe she was a little too eager. Her casual attitude suggested she didn’t fully understand the responsibility she was about to assume. I responded to this mindset by overstating some of the more obvious aspects of piloting a vehicle: putting on one’s safety belt, adjusting the mirrors and seat, identifying the switches for headlights and windshield wipers…important stuff. I did, however, overlook mentioning one detail that I assumed would be obvious. That was the difference between the brake pedal and the accelerator.
With seatbelts clicked and the motor running, we sat at the entry to our 100-yard driveway, pointing toward the highway like a fighter jet idling on an aircraft carrier flight deck.
“Okay, Sweetie,” I said calmly, “Apply a little pressure to the accelerator.”
While looking down at the floorboard to locate the pedals, she assaulted the first pedal her foot touched, and we took off with tires spitting gravel. The sudden acceleration pinned me to my seat, and trees began to fly past my window in a blur of green as we careened down the lane.
“The brake! The brake!” I shouted. “Press the brake!”
“Which one’s the brake?”
“The one you’re NOT pressing!” I screamed.
Being quick to obey, she pressed the other pedal…hard, really hard. We skidded sideways to halt in a billow of dust and swirling leaves.
I sat clutching the passenger door handle with white knuckles and looking straight ahead as I tried to catch my breath and allow my adrenaline to drop before I spoke. I slowly turned my head to face my daughter and found her gripping the wheel and looking at me with a wide, sheepish grin on her face. “Oops!” she whispered.
Fast forward to the day my teenage son asked if I would teach him to drive the car. It should be no surprise that I was less than enthusiastic, but it had to be done. He had been using the riding mower and driving a tractor, so his first lesson was different…mostly. We easily traveled our driveway without his struggling to find the brake or even speeding toward an oncoming tree. As we turned out of the drive and onto the paved highway, he steered into the right-hand lane…so far so good. But then, keeping the vehicle between the lines became a challenge. He could travel a straight course fine if he kept his eyes on the road, but the second his attention was diverted to a side or rearview mirror or a gauge on the dashboard, he would drift from the lane. I told him to reduce his speed so that he could get a feel of making slight steering corrections. Gradually, he adjusted his control and settled in to develop the skills of a good driver. As I thought about that driving lesson, it dawned on me that becoming a good driver can be compared to living our lives in Christ.
You speed steadily down a narrow way in your vehicle. Its momentum has a potential to do much harm or good. Other drivers are depending on you to manage the journey with responsibility, and every new driver knows this takes discipline. Few people welcome discipline, but in order to keep ourselves in the appropriate lane, we must accept and employ it. The writer of Hebrews gives us a practical example of discipline and how we should receive it in chapter 12:5, “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.’”
New drivers must focus intensely to keep the car on the road. Their strict attention to the task prevents harm to themselves or to others. My son experienced such discipline as he learned to use small corrective moves to keep his vehicle centered in his lane. Discipline is like that, making small adjustments one at a time.
One cannot set the car’s autopilot and expect to make it to the destination. Likewise, a successful life’s journey requires continuing involvement, and not just our own, but the involvement of the Father. We must allow him to correct us, or we will risk a wreck. I love how Hebrews 12:11 explains this, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” That is so true; most discipline feels difficult and arduous, too intensive and unattainable. However, with small corrections, we can stay on course toward a greater purpose—a yield of peaceful fruit of righteousness. I want that outcome!
So often, our rigid habits of discipline become a burden merely to keep up the appearance of holiness. In essence, the practice becomes the purpose, but discipline is a means to living the good life in Jesus. I love the perspective 2 Peter 3:13-14 gives: “But in keeping with this promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.” There they are again—righteousness and peace. Not the outcome of a life lived with cumbersome rules, they are the reward for accepting our loving Father’s consistent course corrections.
By the way, my children have successfully learned to drive, even my daughter. They are continually growing in competence and skill as they apply a few consistent disciplines. I’ve even noticed that when I’m in the passenger seat, I enjoy a sense of peace when they drive righteously…most of the time.
