Does God Care About Speed Limits?

People often think of God in super-spiritual ways. They remove Him from many of the ‘mundane’ activities of life, but the problem with doing so is that God cares about what we do – all of it. Every action that we take is important to Him, even whether or not we obey speed limits!

1 Peter 2:13-17

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men —  as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

How many times have we heard unbelievers complaining about the actions of Christians? A perfect example is how we drive a car. Once behind the wheel, it seems as if we enter into another realm. Some people, otherwise sedate and compliant, seem to morph into another person! I have seen them driving super-aggressively, speeding, cutting people off and otherwise acting selfishly and rudely. The most obnoxious thing to me is that they have some ‘Christian’ emblem fixed on their car. Little do they know (or care?) how these actions affect others around them. Does this matter? Of course, it does! People who don’t know God see these actions as a testament to the powerlessness of becoming a Christian. This is because people innately know that becoming a Christian should change a person.

When we come to God and submit ourselves to the authority of Christ and to the Word of God, we receive forgiveness for our sins. However, it doesn’t end there. The New Birth is not the end of the reign of sin in our lives, but the beginning of a new life in Christ! The purpose of Christ was not simply to destroy the old nature of selfishness, but also to empower us to walk worthy of the Name of Jesus. Again, people (at least in this country) innately know that a Christian should be different than everyone else. They expect righteousness and selfless acts of love, not selfishness, rudeness, and arrogance. So when they see these things being done by others who supposedly know God, they get repulsed by the thought of learning more about God. This principle is found in many passages in the Word of God, such as here;

2 Sam 12:14

“…because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme…”

In this passage David had caused many bad things to happen because of his disobedience to God. What is really interesting to me is that it seems the focus centers around the effect these events would have on unbelievers. Because of David’s disobedience, his actions would give ample opportunity for unbelievers to justify their lack of confidence in God, or in God’s power to transform people.

While we (hopefully!) aren’t involved in the type of disobedience David was involved in here, the things we do are just as likely to influence others around us. This influence can be for good or ill. For this reason God states we are to honor, respect and obey those who He has placed over us in government. This makes sense, because God sets up authority and order in the universe, and His children should live under that authority. To live outside of authority is to be in rebellion, and rebellion brings about all sorts of bad consequences.

The crux of the title text is this;

“…by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men —  as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.”

The ignorance Peter is talking about is the assumption unbelievers have about a life given over to Christ. Many unbelievers are convinced there is no difference between Christians and unbelievers. They don’t know (are ignorant of) the transforming power of God, and so they look for the evidence of that proclaimed power which is supplied by the believer’s life and actions. By submitting ourselves to the Lord, and in giving Him authority over our lives, we should also show respect for the governmental authority He has placed in our lives. By following the laws of the land (even the ‘trivial’ ones like speed limits), we can help avoid influencing rebellion in others.