Well isn't that convenient...

Driving home, I have passed a landmark for my neighborhood that I have looked at and have  observed probably hundreds of times.  Each time I get the same sense inside, and each time it brings about the same response as well.  What has such power over my actions and focus?

A solar-powered radar post that is installed about a 1/4 of a block into the neighborhood.  Monitoring speed to ensure that drivers are going 30 mph or slower.

When speeds hit 31 or above, the sign begins to flash with an insulting, "In case you don't know it already, sir, you are driving over the speed limit," flash.  Like I don't already know I am breaking the law.  What adds intensity to this seemingly ordinary situation is that police tend to also sit behind bushes nearby and watch the radar.  No need for them to use their radar guns, the post reads speeds for them.  

So, needless to say, most of the time when I drive into the neighborhood and venture even remotely near the path of the radar beam, I am already driving obediently.  No flashing numbers for me.  

What a motivation to obey the law.  What a motivation to do what is right (even if every part of my flesh wants to break the speed barrier of 30 mph!).  

And so I pose a thought...what would be our rate of breaking God's laws if we had a solar-powered radar post that warned us when we were venturing too near the line of unholy living.  Too near the line of breaking His command.  Too near the line of the way of the world.  Imagine...posts put up in our homes that would let us know when we were too close to not loving like we should...or not cleaning our rooms and disobeying our parents...or not putting others first and cleaning up after ourselves...etc.  Or maybe in our workplaces...a radar post that would flash at the brink of gossip or lying.

But suddenly I realize there already is a solar-powered radar post that helps to indicate the breaking of God's law.  Except it's not powered by the sun, but by His Son.  And it is not a post but a cross.  And instead of flashing alerts, there is the flash of God's glory as His Son is lifted high as a demonstration of love and mercy.  Forgiveness and grace.  The bearing of God's justice and wrath.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in the book of Romans.  Paul writes:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemieswe were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11, ESV)

I was His enemy.  I always crossed the line.  I always did what my flesh wanted, what my nature only allowed me to do.  I passed the line of transgression always, and I lived intentionally with only myself in mind.  But then the cross happened to me.  I may have seen it only from a distance, but I eventually wound up standing face to face with the cross of Christ.  There He died for me...justifying me and saving me through the grace and faith He gave me to believe.

But I must confess something...as much as I pass the speed post in my neighborhood, I need to even more pass again in my heart the cross that bought my salvation.  It lovingly urges me to walk in His way and demonstrate His life and Word to others.  And His Spirit regularly sets off the alarm inside me when I am about to do something that is now contrary to my new nature in Christ.

I have eventually grown to appreciate the post in my neighborhood.  It brings safety to those living there.  

I have also grown in the last 14 years of my walk with Christ to appreciate His cross which has brought eternal safety to my soul.  

How about you?  Next time you pass a stop sign.  Or a radar post.  Or a traffic light.  Anything that is keeping you from breaking the law.  Would you then consider His cross, and what He did on it knowing you had already broken His law and that you would continue to break His law?  May it be in that moment that you experience His grace and realize the love He displayed for you.  And as His child (if you are His child), thank Him that the salvation He offers is eternal...even amidst the breaking of any law - no matter how "big or small" it may seem in our minds.

#4hisfame.