Do You Drive Like a Christian, do I?

Driving across the state of PA this week, I had a couple experiences that made me ask this question. What does it mean to Drive like A Christian? and then, do I drive that way?

So I thought I would look at some other peoples opinions about How Would Jesus Drive. As I agree this is the more important question than What Would Jesus Drive. We are judged by our actions, not our possessions. So here are the nine ways I came up with to drive like a Christian:

1. Love other drivers - Christ clearly commands us to love each other as he loved us. We have to 1st remember that the other cars on the road are people that we should care for and therefore be thoughtful of. (John, 13:34, 2 John 1:6)
2. Use prayer to protect your travels - As a Christian, we should know to pray for all things. The power of prayer has been shown in my life and the lives of many Christians. Yet when we do the most dangerous activity of our day, (getting in a car) we often give no thought to the protection that prayer can provide. Remember that prayers do not have to be 20 minute monologue, but can be as simple as: "Lord, thank you for your blessings. Please protect me as I travel to Church today." (Ezra 8:21, Job 11:15-18, Mark 11:22-25)
3. Be Patient - In one of the most common verses of scripture we hear at weddings, we are told that Love is Patient and Love is kind. As we drive, we should be patient in where we are going. By hurrying and jockeying for position, we cause problems on the road an rarely make up much time anyway. (1 Corinthians 13:4, Ephesians 4:2)
4. Be slow to anger - You may think that being Patient and being "slow to anger" is the same thing. In this case, I am using them to mean two different ways to drive like a Christian. Being patient means don't force your way in front of people, don't drive faster than needed. Whereas by being slow to anger, I am suggesting that Christian drivers should forgive the mistakes of other drivers. We should understand that people make mistakes or that some are not very good at driving. Rather than lashing out at them or driving angrily, we should relax and not push the panic button. (Psalms 37:8-9)
5. Turn the other cheek - In the cases where your anger gets the best of you, then you must decide what to do with your angry feelings. Will you yell, tailgate, or signal profanely to other drivers? Or will you put your thoughts on God and keep your anger inside until you calm yourself. Jesus would clearly have you not retaliate, but turn your cheek. (Matthew 5:39)
6. Do not be vulgar - In addition to not retaliating against other drivers, we need to be careful how we communicate to them. Our sign language as well as our verbal outbursts should be moderated as much as possible. If you cannot refrain from yelling, at least yell something that is not offensive in itself. (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 3:8)
7. Take care of the life the Lord gave you - Generally speaking, be safe, specifically you should wear your seat belt. We as Christian's should protect the gift of Life that we have been blessed with. (2 Timothy 1:14)
8. Obey the laws - This is an easy one. The scripture sited below is interpreted by most Christians to mean that whenever man's laws do not conflict with God's Word, Christians are called to be lawful. So all driving laws would fall into this rule since God gives us no commandments about driving. (Mark 12:14-17)
9. Give Thanksgiving for safe journeys - Just as we should pray for safe travels, we should also be thankful when a journey is completed successfully. So give thanks for your safe passage across the wilderness of pavement. (Psalm 28:7, Colossians 2:7)

So now that I have defined my view of driving like a Christian. How do I do in real life? In my 1st item, I guess I am not that bad. Generally, I try to be a good example when I drive and make a strong effort at caring for the people around me. As for number two, I need to focus on this more. I will say a prayer in bad weather, or on a long journey like a plane ride. But day to day, I trust this in the Lord's protection from my daily prayers of help, protection and thanksgivings.

Three to six are my trouble spots. This is where I was a nightmare in my pre-Christian days. First, I was always in a hurry and as a teen and twenty something I thought I was the only good driver on the road. And I had no fear of any situation or speed on the road. My favorite thing to yell when driving was to blaspheme "Jesus Christ!". When another driver offended me, it was common for me to yell or signal vulgarities. Then in extreme circumstances, I would tailgate a driver getting dangerously close to his bumper.

I'm proud to say that I have had some great growth in this area. The tailgating is gone forever and something I cannot believe I did. The blaspheming and vulgarity have stopped completely except for an occasional swear that I keep partially under my breath and then ask for forgiveness. But since I still have the occasional swear and get myself in a hurry sometimes, there is certainly improvements I can make.

Seven and Eight are not problems for me in the most part. I am careful on the road and never drive minus a seat belt. But my flaw in this area is a little bit of speed. I am a five miles over type of driver and I will need to reconsider this driving logic. Plus when late for a meeting or something that has a deadline, I might push it a little more than I should. So here I will definitely need to spend some time in prayer.

Nine is much like number 1 for me. I generally will pray after landing on a plane. Or I will pray after driving through snow or a long trip. But I will need to be more thoughtful and pray for safe passage a few more times in my life.

So in total, I would score myself about a 7 or 7.2 out of 10. Not bad, but nothing I should be impressed with either.

Father, may you help me to drive more like a follower of your son Jesus. In all areas of my life help the light shine through that is your Love for us. Let me strive to be an example of that love so that others may come to know you. Amen.

Please, I invite everyone who reads this to comment on my view of how we Christians should drive. I also welcome any personal scoring of your Christian driving habits. All thoughtful posts will be published.

Sources:

• The New Living Translation
• http://www.saint-anns.org/corres/ref-200407.html
• http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/7177/road1.htm
• http://zionlutheran.home.att.net/weeklysermon032405.htm
• http://riverstone.blogdrive.com/comments?id=27

Note - the reason there is only 9 reasons to drive like a Christian, I didn't want to force the 10th. The 1st nine came so easy, and I couldn't find a 10th through thought or study.