Is Jesus the Pilot of Your Life?
There are very few things that are more frustrating or more of a pet peeve than having a backseat driver. They sit back there telling you what to do, where to turn, when to change lanes, etc. It is annoying, but it is also dangerous, because not only is the backseat driver being a huge distraction, but they cannot see from the driver’s perspective. They can’t see what the driver sees. The backseat driver can’t see if there is a road hazard up ahead. They can’t see that another vehicle is trying to overtake them from behind, because they don’t have the benefit of the side and rear view mirrors. They can’t see a mile in the distance to be able to identify any dangers up ahead. They are trying to drive the vehicle (or tell you how to) without the knowledge, without the information, without the details, and without the skills needed to do so.
About 10 years ago there was a country song that rose in popularity for a while called, ‘Jesus Take the Wheel;’ I do like the song, but at the same time, it also irritates my spirit. Then there is the saying: Jesus is my copilot. These both irritate me, and here is why: they surmise that you are the lord of your life and Jesus is just there as protection, the spare tire, only there when you need his help. In our Christian walk, aren’t we often guilty of this? More often than not, we shove Jesus in the back seat, because we want what we want when we want it, and in so doing, we end up in a tail spin and we crash and burn. Jesus is supposed to be the Lord and Savior of our life all the time.
Jesus is either Lord OF all your life or he is not Lord AT all in your lives.
What does that mean to have Jesus as our Lord and Savior? The word lord, generally speaking, refers to someone who has power, authority, and influence; a master or ruler. Savior means one who saves from danger or destruction. Jesus does have power, authority, and influence. He is a ruler and a master. He is a savior to saves us from danger and destruction, but he is so much more! Let’s look at a few verses in the Bible.
I Corinthians 12:3 it says “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”
You cannot say that Jesus is anathema or cursed if you have the Spirit of God, and without that same Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, you cannot say that Jesus is the Lord.
Romans 10:9 says, ”That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
We know that we cannot be saved by any other, and to be saved, we have to confess verbally, out loud, with our mouth and with our life that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead.
I Corinthians 6:11 tells us, ”And such were[sinners] some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
I love when the word BUT is used in the Bible, because it is always followed by something of significance, just like IF is followed by THEN, and therefore is THERE FOR a reason. In this verse, the word BUT is used three times: BUT ye are washed-apelousasthe (Greek word meaning away from) our sins, BUT ye are sanctified-hegiasthete (Greek word meaning sacred, holy, set apart), BUT ye are justified-edikaiothete (Greek word meaning right judicial approval, properly approved, upright) in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8:16 says “(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”) and then in Acts 19:5 it says “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
They were not baptized by the Holy Ghost yet in chapter 8 verse 16, but they had been baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts chapter 19 verse 5 tells us again that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The reason I bring all these scriptures to your attention is because they all use the same Greek word for Lord when referring to the Lord Jesus. That word is k’yrios , and k’yrios means “exercising absolute ownership rights.” Absolute ownership rights. Think about the significance of that for a second. Jesus is LORD because he bought us with the price of his precious blood on the cruel cross at Calvary (I Corinthians 6:20). He has absolute ownership rights to us.
Why do we continually try to wrench the control (the steering wheel) out of Jesus’ hands? Why are we continually trying to tell him which way we should go? Why are we continually trying to take the power over our lives back? Human nature, our sin nature, is to rebel against God for this very purpose, because WE want to be lord of our own life. We think we know better. We think we can do a better job than Jesus.
When we get saved, we put Jesus on the throne of our hearts. We say we trust him, but do we really? Do we want Jesus to make the judgment calls, the decisions, and the choices that are in our best interest? Do we trust Jesus to work all things out for our good, even when at times the circumstances we are going through do not feel very good?
Logically, we know that Jesus not only has the benefit of the side and rearview mirrors, but he also has a bird’s eye view. We know that he knows what’s up ahead of us. He can see farther than we can. His eye sight is perfect. His windshield is not clouded by the pollution of emotions, stress, and everyday life circumstances that can fog up our view, making it hard to see a single foot in front of us much less a mile down the road. Jesus knows how to maneuver through the hail, the wind, the rains, the hurricanes, and whatever other storms life or the devil may throw at us. BUT we have to have total and complete trust in him. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
Why don’t we trust Jesus to navigate all the time? It is our ego and pride that gets puffed up, and we think as Adam and Eve did in the garden that we know better than God, making us think that we have better vision and insight into what is best for us.
God doesn’t need a back seat driver. When we think we know better than god when we think we can take the wheel and steer our car in a direction that we think will get us to our destination quicker, we need to stop, sit back, shut up, and turn it over completely to God. Don’t wait to cry out for Jesus to take the wheel when you’re in trouble. Jesus is not your spare tire or your backup plan. If you let him, Jesus will pilot all the time, and you won’t get in the trouble you get into when you grab the wheel and jerk it out of his hands. We need to stop waiting to cry out for Jesus to take the wheel when we have taken our life into a skid, when we are driving on slick roads, in unfamiliar territory, when we are threatened or in danger. We have to sit in the backseat ourselves and completely trust that where he is driving us, we can rest assured knowing that we are safe and secure.
The Love and Hope Challenge this week is to examine your life: Whether it is your personal life, your professional life, your church life, or your relationships, if you are in control, then God is not. Examine your life…all aspects of your life and ask yourself who is in the driver seat? Who is piloting your life? If your honest answer is that you are in control, you are the one making the decisions, you are the one in the driver seat while Jesus is in the backseat or worse stuffed in the trunk, then you need to pull over, climb in the back seat, and let Jesus take the wheel, so that Jesus can be the pilot of your life before you crash and burn. And don’t be a backseat driver!
