Reading: Romans 7:5 -6
Reflective Thoughts
The First Car
Do you remember your first car? Mine was a white 1978 Mustang Cobra with mag wheels, a dual overhead cam, louvers and light blue fuzzy carpet on the dash board. The year was 1985, and the odometer said it only had 55,000 miles on it. I didn’t understand why my father told me not to buy it. It was only $900. So I did …and I hid it in our five-acre backyard until I got my license.
Aside from my father, issues arose. I became aware of laws I hadn’t even thought about-noise ordinances (these will apply to corroded exhaust systems). Police will pull you over if your car smokes excessively. An acute awareness to the ability to speed also rises with much horsepower. I became painfully aware of speed limit signs on every street of every town. Fortunately I managed to avoid tickets, but police were a daily concern. State inspection broke my bank account.
I also remember my first new car. It doesn’t matter what it was-I no longer thought about noise ordinances, smoke or speed limits. It wasn’t designed to break the sound barrier. I didn’t think too much about the police, and state inspections became just another ordinary detail of car ownership. I had been “released” from ownership and operation of the old white mustang. In the same way, Paul tells us we have been released from the grip of the old nature-something “new” in us seems to comply with the Law.