“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14:26
The passenger in a car will often see the road differently from the driver. They turn their head to examine whatever catches their eye whereas the driver should only dart their head side-to-side, but focusing on what is ahead. After several months of being unable to drive my car, this weekend I was behind the wheel. When I came to my first intersection I quickly realized I had to adjust my mindset from passenger to driver. I was not attentive to the car coming from my right and had to brake quickly. After that little wake-up call, I did better as I became the driver engaged in what I was doing.
Driving can be compared to a spiritual journey. As the driver on this journey we can influence our forward movement, as a passenger we can become distracted by what is all around us and not really contribute to reaching our destination. Although we must be mindful of what is behind us, we should not let that stop us from reaching our destination. We are not in a race, but our efforts should be leading us to God. We do need to stop from time to time to refresh ourselves, see where we are, and engage those we encounter. While on our spiritual journey we are not alone. We have the Holy Spirit as our guide. While on our journey we need protection from what is ahead of us and assistance to resist what is behind. Our windshield and rear-view mirror acts as our protection. Using them as an analogy for the Holy Spirit, we can see the role He plays as we seek God. Our windshield protects us from stones, bugs and whatever else is flying towards us all the while allowing us to see large obstacles far enough in advance to allow us to avoid them. When we accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit becomes our protector and guards us as we move towards the Kingdom. He warns us of the obstacles that can take us off the path; obstacles that exist to help us grow in confidence and learn to address and avoid in the future. Part of the driving experience requires the proper use of the rear-view mirror. It is purposely smaller so as not to distract us from our forward movement. It does alert us to possible dangers, such as potential rear end collisions. However, we must not focus too much on our rear-view mirror as we drive forward and similarity, we must not focus on our past mistakes or sins as we grow in relationship with God. We are all sinners and when we ask, God forgives and then forgets our sins.
We need the Holy Spirit to help us resist revisiting the forgiven past, so we can move towards God. Satan loves to remind us of our past failures and will use them to stop us. However, it is good to remember that when we look in the rear-view mirror we see a small image that moves further and further away. As we draw nearer to God, our past sins should be moving further and further away from our thoughts and should not distract us.
We need to stop behaving like passengers staring at the world moving past us and get behind the wheel to take control. We must be willing to face the world with Jesus’ truths which means leaving the comfort of the passenger seat, so we can drive to what God is placing before us. We have the Spirit of Truth who sees to our future and helps us overcome our past, so our minds can focus on our journey with God.