I have Mantrol Issues

I did a lot of driving on the motorway last weekend and I saw quite a few policemen on the road. One thing I always notice with myself and other drivers is how everyone's speed drops by about 10km/hr at the sight of a police car. The sight of the law convicts us.

But what’s more interesting to me are people’s reactions to the amount of Police presence on our roads. Whenever there is a news item about speed cameras or Police check points, reporters always seem to be able to find someone who says “What a waste of taxpayer’s money. Why aren’t the Police going after real criminals?” It is easy to downplay our sin when it doesn't seem to hurt anyone.  "I'm in a bit of rush, why won't this guy get out of my way, I'll just overtake him, it's only a single yellow line."  But who knows when our next "little" offense will be ours (or someone else's) last?   In 2010 over 300 people died on New Zealand roads.  Many of the road deaths were caused by overall good citizens who in one crucial moment choose to be careless and break the law with devastating consequences.  Hence the Police concern about the issue. 

God’s standard for measuring our goodness is infinitely higher than our own. Jesus commands us to “Love our neighbour as ourselves”. If I truly loved my neighbour I would follow the 2 second rule, I would keep to the speed limit, I would drive to the conditions, I would not allow myself to be distracted by my mobile phone etc, etc, etc. But my actions show that I do not love my neighbour as I should, rather I love to rush when I am late and many times I feel like I am the most important car on the road. 

The Police will not forgive me for my traffic offenses (and rightly so.) I'll have to pay the fine,  but my offenses against God are much greater, with a fine too great for me to pay.  Its such good news that someone else has already paid this fine for me and I am no longer under Gods condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)

For another article on the effect of the law on our behaviour: Steeler's James Harrison and the Law