Have you ever followed a vehicle on an interstate highway for miles and suddenly realized it is gone. It has been replaced by another and you have no idea when and where the first vehicle went. You look for the first but it is nowhere to be seen. How could this happen? You were watching the entire time. It is then that you realize you have been on autopilot. You were listening to the radio or rehearsing what you were going to say when you arrived at your destination.
Unfortunately some of us live on autopilot. We just go through the motions with little or no thought. We do things because this is the way it has always been. If there is any original thought it is because we heard someone else say it. Some of us are Christians merely because we were raised in a Christian culture. We belong to a particular denomination merely because our parents did. We consider others who are different than we to be misguided, wrong or just plain stupid. And yet we have no real rationale for who and what we are.
I Peter 3:15 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you.” Conscious thought and serious questioning of what we have been taught is part of the abundant life. It is why God made us in His image. To think is to be like God. If he did not desire this of us He would have made us with built in unalterable software. But what or where would be the joy in that?
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 23, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org