I saw hundreds of posts during the power outages following Helene reminding drivers that to properly navigate malfunctioning traffic lights, follow the rules for a four way stop. I live in a comparatively small city but some of our major intersections where six or eight lanes converge reminded me of playing Frogger on the original Atari console. I was more than content to stay home until power could be restored but my husband and many friends and neighbors did not have that luxury. Driving through the west side of town even two and three weeks afterwards was literally taking your life in your hands. Everyone seemed to be rushing to be somewhere all at once. So many cars clogged up the roads.
My dad and I were talking about all the traffic congestion when he mentioned being frustrated by the appearance of more and more traffic circles in rural areas. Since my college days, my first experience with Heron Circle made me avoid that route at all costs. It occurred to me while listening to my father wonder aloud why on earth anyone would design such a confusing exchange that we’ve just managed to do what we do so well- we’ve legalized the rolling stop. If the area around the circle is clear of trees, folks rarely even slow down. It’s a calculated dash to get into the loop and out again without ever applying the brake.
As I detoured from my usual route home from my daughter’s after the storm, miles from anything but farmland, it appeared unexpectedly- the random traffic circle. Vacant of cars, I slowed to a crawl until my gps had time to catch up and I made my entrance and exit without circling twice. At that moment, the Spirit impressed a thought. Legalized sin is still sin. We can dress it up, complicate or confuse it, but if it is contrary to the eternal Word of God, then it will never be good, acceptable, or pleasing.
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/php.2.13.NLT
“God will continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:13 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/php.2.13.TPT
I’ve been a rule follower all my life. I actually studied for my driver’s exam, both parts. I follow my doctor’s instructions to the letter. I read the introduction and preface in books, careful not to miss even the smallest detail. I typically do not drive above the speed limit, yet any time a trooper or security vehicle comes into view, my foot involuntarily moves to the brake and faster than I can glance at the speedometer, my mind is grasping for legitimate sounding excuses. Why is that? What causes me to feel the need to justify my actions?
“When Adam sinned, the entire world was affected.
Sin entered human experience, and death was the result.
And so death followed this sin, casting its shadow over all humanity, because all have sinned.
Sin was in the world before Moses gave the written law, but it was not charged against them where no law existed.
Yet death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even though they hadn’t broken a command the way Adam had.
The first man, Adam, was a picture of the Messiah, who was to come.”
Romans 5:12-14 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/rom.5.12-14.TPT
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 3:23 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.3.23.NLT
Sin first reared its ugly head in a lush garden paradise. By God’s reckoning, where a thousand years is as a day and a lifetime is merely a vapor, only minutes into creation, the first man and his wife betrayed their Creator for a taste of forbidden fruit. One tree was off limits. Only one amid possibly hundreds or thousands. Adam was commanded to eat freely of every tree in the garden, save this one. The cunning serpent, fallen from grace and as ever, prowling about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, with a simple question, “did God really say?” undermined the faith of man.
“Immediately, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, vulnerable, and ashamed; so they sewed fig leaves together for coverings.”
Genesis 3:7 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/gen.3.7.TPT
“For God made the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/2co.5.21.TPT
“Sin is a dethroned monarch; so you must no longer give it an opportunity to rule over your life, controlling how you live and compelling you to obey its desires and cravings.
So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness.
Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life!
You live now for his pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose.
What are we to do, then?
Should we sin to our hearts’ content since there’s no law to condemn us anymore?
What a terrible thought!
Don’t you realize that grace frees you to choose your own master?
But choose carefully, for you surrender yourself to become a servant—bound to the one you choose to obey.
If you choose to love sin, it will become your master, and it will own you and reward you with death.
But if you choose to love and obey God, he will lead you into perfect righteousness.”
Romans 6:12-13, 15-16 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/rom.6.12-16.TPT
“For when you were bound as servants to sin, you lived your lives free from any obligation to righteousness.
So tell me, what benefit ensued from doing those things that you’re now ashamed of?
It left you with nothing but a legacy of shame and death.
For sin’s meager wages is death, but God’s lavish gift is life eternal, found in your union with our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.”
Romans 6:20-21, 23 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/rom.6.20-23.TPT
“For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.
For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.”
Hebrews 2:1-4 CSB
https://bible.com/bible/1713/heb.2.1-4.CSB
“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:4-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/php.2.4-11.NLT
I’m no longer surprised when sinners sin, myself included. It is my nature to want my own way. Like my grandchildren who stamp their little feet to get something they’ve been denied, I feel the color rise in my own cheeks when I’m told I can’t or shouldn’t. Then I remember that in Christ, I am a new creation. That nature is completely gone. I am crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ lives in me. By the grace of God, I am more. I represent Him in this world. And by His powerful Spirit, I can deny myself daily. I can follow Him anywhere He leads.
“Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed!
Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society.
Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.
Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.
You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.”
Philippians 2:14-16 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/php.2.14-16.MSG
“We are ambassadors of the Anointed One who carry the message of Christ to the world, as though God were tenderly pleading with them directly through our lips.
So we tenderly plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Turn back to God and be reconciled to him.””
2 Corinthians 5:20 TPT
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