Unto the Lord... even while driving

I was reading through Ephesians this morning and these verses in Chapter 6 stood out to me:

5Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

6Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

7With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

8Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

~Ephesians 6:5-8

I have read these verses many times before but for some reason they stood out to me and reminded me of a similar verse in Colossians:

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

~Colossians 3:23

The verse in Colossians has been one I have set my foundation on in Christ – that no matter what I do, I do it FOR the Lord.

But while I was driving today, I realized that these verses also have a deeper meaning.

As I was driving a woman was driving in the lane next to me and turned her blinker on just as I was passing her.  She saw me, but decided that she was just going to switch lanes anyway.  These verses came to mind and I put on my brakes to let her go in front of me.  Even though my flesh wanted to honk at her and remind her of the rules for driving and switching lanes, I slowed down to show my love for our Lord.  As I watched the car drive in front of me I thought that what makes people angry about situations like that, isn’t that the person made a mistake, but more the person’s heart behind the action.  In other words, I knew she saw me and she didn’t care and decided to pull over anyway just because she wanted to.

But then I thought about these verses in a different way… what if that WAS Jesus in the car driving… what if it WAS an accident and He really didn’t see me.  Jesus wouldn’t cut me off on purpose and He wouldn’t want to make me feel bad. 

This made me realize that even if that woman’s intentions were not godly or pure and she was being a stinker, it doesn’t matter.  We are to do ALL things as TO THE LORD… All of a sudden it didn’t matter to me what her intentions were, but I just imagined Jesus being in the car ahead of me and what an honor it would be to slow down so He could pass me. Doubly, I imagined Jesus driving my car and slowing down to humbly let the woman pass because that is what the Lord would want.  No anger, no wrath… driving, not a big deal.

This is such a HUGE life application for me – not just for managing road rage, but for every instance in our lives. We are to do everything as to the Lord and not to men… so despite the sinful flesh of man, we are to look past that and go for the greater good of loving our neighbor as oneself.

Just a thought for today… J