My uncle once showed up at our house with an old motorized go kart he found at a flea market and had been working on. What fun for us in early elementary school… at least for a moment. We cousins took turns driving the go cart in small slow circles in the driveway while my uncle and father stopped us every once in a while to adjust something. We kept it slow because, oh yeah, there were NO BRAKES yet! Everything was fine and fun as we pretended to be racing on the big track. This, of course, was back when helmets were optional and maybe even frowned on for go karts, bikes, motorcycles, etc… I guess they thought we were hard headed enough or maybe it just wasn’t a part of the go kart package at the flea market. When my cousin began his slow circle around the driveway for what would be his last one on that kart, my uncle, for some strange reason, jumped on the side of the kart, Thunderdome style, and pressed the accelerator to the floor, saying "Go faster son!” The accelerator spring that is supposed to “unrev” the engine when the accelerator is released, snapped and the kart began accelerating out of control. My uncle began falling and jumped off, my cousin, however, was seated and un-able to escape. He was wide-eyed and headed for the very steep hill with lots of big trees. He lined up the driveway’s turnaround pad which launched the cart into the air. It hit a tree about 4 feet high and slammed to the ground. Fortunately the impact slowed the engine as my father and uncle ran to pull my cousin, crying and shaking from the kart. My uncle, embarrassed by it all, said to him, “oh, quit crying, you're not hurt.” And that about did it for the go kart thing. Everytime I hear the words, “go kart,” I can see my cousin flying through the air, impacting the tree and slamming to the ground. Interestingly, as teens, my cousin and I would go to the go kart slick track extravaganza in Pigeon Forge to race against each other, accelerator to the floor, drifting through the turns, but this time with actual brakes (but still no helmets).
The apostle John was worried about the early church. He didn’t want them going around accelerating through life with “no brakes.” He told them when we belong to Christ we can stop when it comes to sin. He reminded them (and us) that we who belong to Christ, act like Him, and He did not sin. He says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:1–6) So, we need to remind ourselves the next time we are operating with no brakes, feeling out of control, unable to stop ourselves from sinning, that we are children of God and He gave us brakes. He makes us like Jesus whose brakes worked perfectly his whole life. Sure, we’re all going to mess up, that’s why Jesus had to come save us, but when we belong to Him, we begin to mature in Him and learn how to use the brakes and turn around when we are heading for trouble.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
