To replace our beloved little blue car (which we just recently “let go”) hubby and I purchased a new vehicle. This new vehicle has a backup camera.
I have never personally driven a car with a backup camera before.
So, I get in the new vehicle to go somewhere for the first time, and I turn around to look out the back window so I can back up. I can barely see out the back window! The seats in the back seat are much taller than in our other cars. Plus, they have headrests … which make them extra tall. (our other cars only ever had puny little headrests which were always lowered)
Oh this will not do! I can’t see out the back as clearly as I would like. I can’t even see out the side-back windows (in my blind spot) because of the super tall back seats with their super tall headrests.
Hubby tells me: You have to trust the backup camera. You have to trust your side mirrors.
But I’ve never trusted what I can’t physically see with my own two eyes. What if there’s a person walking back there! And I accidentally back up and run over them! Can I really trust a backup camera??
Or if I’m trying to change lanes or merge onto the freeway … I must be able to physically see with my own two eyes that nobody is in my blind spot. I don’t know if I can trust those little yellow icons on the side mirrors.
I’m having a really hard time trusting what I can’t see!
So … the time comes for me to go to my dentist appointment. The brand-new vehicle is sitting right there in the car barn, available for me to drive to my dentist appointment. I have the key on my key ring.
But instead, I intentionally choose to drive the 22-year-old car … which has an obnoxious rattle somewhere in the dashboard or center console … and a heater which goes out halfway through the journey.
I intentionally choose what is familiar.
I would rather have the old (where I can physically see with my own two eyes) … than the new (where I have to learn how to trust).
Doesn’t this sound a lot like Thomas after Jesus rose from the dead:
“Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’
“But Thomas said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’
“A week later Jesus’ disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’
“Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ – John 20:24-28
I totally get it!
Just like I am having a really hard time trusting the backup camera and the side mirrors (in place of being able to physically see with my own two eyes out my blind spot) … so also, the Jewish people had a really hard time trusting that they no longer needed to physically bring a lamb and offer it as a sacrifice for their sins.
Bringing a lamb for sacrifice was all they had ever known!
And now, they were to just stop bringing their lamb for sacrifice and simply trust in Jesus?
This is exactly like me right now, having to stop being able to physically see with my own two eyes as I back up or change lanes … and instead trust the camera to see for me. My entire life I have only ever physically looked with my own two eyes. And now I have to trust a camera to see on my behalf??
This right here is what the Jewish people were struggling with.
Their entire lives they had only ever offered lambs at the Temple for the payment of their sins. They, personally, had physically brought the lamb to be the sacrifice. And now they were to just stop doing that … and trust that Jesus Christ had been the sacrifice on their behalf??
The Jewish people had a really hard time trusting in Jesus as the once-for-all sacrifice for their sin. They had a really hard time letting go of the way it had always been, and the only thing they had ever known.
Concerning mine and hubby’s new vehicle, hubby is very comfortable driving with a backup camera. Whenever we’ve taken vacations, hubby always drives the rental cars (which always have all the new features).
What I’m finding is that the more I ride with hubby in the new vehicle and watch hubby’s trust in the backup camera and the side mirrors (with their little yellow warning icons of the blind spot) … the more I’m finding that my own trust is strengthened.
As I see how “trust” operates … as I see how “trust” functions … the more I myself am willing to trust.
I think when it comes to faith and trust in Jesus Christ, some people are a lot like me with the new vehicle. Some people have a really hard time trusting in Jesus Christ as the one and only way to Heaven.
Perhaps they, just like the Jewish people after Jesus’s resurrection, have only ever viewed entrance into heaven as being accessed by what they do.
Just like I am finding that my trust is being strengthened by watching hubby’s trust in the “new way” of driving … so also, some people’s trust is likewise strengthened as they watch the trust of someone who is already a follower of Jesus Christ.
It helps to see how their trust in Jesus plays out in their everyday life. It helps to see their faith. It helps to see how their prayers are answered. It helps to see the amazing ways God takes care of them and provides for their needs!
Trust takes time.
It will take time for me to learn to trust our new vehicle’s backup camera. It will take time for me to get used to not being able to see out my side-back windows. But as I try, I’ll learn to trust. It will just take some time.
So also … when it comes to trusting in Jesus Christ … for some people, it will take some time. They need to see trust lived out in the lives of Jesus-followers. They need to get used to not trusting in themselves or their own good works for entrance into Heaven. Trust takes time.
