Hitting the Brakes
On cars, consumable parts are designed to be replaced as needed. Tires, oil filters, air filters, brake pads, even brake rotors all have a limited lifespan, and should be checked regularly and replaced periodically. On a good day, these parts will last until the service intervals prescribed in your owner’s manual, at which point you can decide to replace them or risk a few thousand more miles. Other times, a blowout, squealing brake, or check-engine light will make that decision for you.
Your human mind uses brakes too. Think about an activity or behavior that you know isn’t good for you, and what you do to avoid it. The Bible is full of these hit-the-brakes moments. Some people put a guard over their mouths (Psalm 141:3), made a covenant with their eyes (Job 31:1), or shared their burden with another believer (Galatians 6:2).
Sometimes it helps to think of reasons for avoiding sin:
Paul avoided sin because of the effect it would have on other believers. “If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice (to an idol),’ then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience’ sake – the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours.” (1 Corinthians 10:27-29)
Proverbs 2:12-29 was written to teach readers to avoid two types of sin: the sin that afflicts influential yet morally bankrupt people and seductive yet sexually broken people. A person cannot walk two paths at the same time, so if they want the straight and narrow path, they shouldn’t even take one step on the other. “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse… it will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words… none who go to her return or attain the paths of life.”
Jesus warned of avoiding the sin of seeking glory for ourselves, because that action tends to have the opposite effect and because it enslaves the mind. In Luke 14, Jesus describes taking the lowest seat of honor at a fancy feast (verses 8-11) and, when hosting a feast, inviting people who cannot pay you back, because in this selflessness “you will be blessed.” (verses 12-14).
Throughout Isaiah, specifically chapters 43 and 44, the people of Israel were warned to avoid sin because they were chosen by God for a specific purpose. “You have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.” (Isaiah 43:22) “But now listen, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says – he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants… One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’ another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take the name Israel.” (Isaiah 44:1-5)
Today, when sin calls our name, we can think of people who depend on us to lead a good example, consider the detrimental physical effects that could happen, remind ourselves that gratifying any sinful desire is the opposite of making ourselves humble, and look for people to affirm us as people loved and specifically chosen by God to live the life He wants us to live.
Yet like brake pads, our efforts need maintenance. Sometimes one tactic wears out and we need a new approach. By grace, we have the opportunity to regularly check our brakes to make sure they’re working.
Ultimately, we can’t avoid all sin. As some theologians say, we’ll never be “grace graduates.” Our inclination toward sin makes us much like bumper cars, continually running into things. Even so, God’s love for us is consistent and eternal. He rebuilds us, and with his power working as a brake booster, gives us what we need to hit the brakes and call on Him when we don’t want to hit a wall.
