Something to Think About: Random Thoughts on the Christian Faith

By Thomas Mockoviak

Something to Think About: Random Thoughts on the Christian Faith is a collection of some of the many unpublished essays that Thomas Mockoviak has written over a period of twenty-one years. They are each written about everyday situations that we may encounter at some time in our lives, and provide us with some scriptural references that may be of help. Some of the essays are humorous and some more serious, but they all have one basic theme in mind: we can find God’s presence in our everyday lives if we will just take the time to look for Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638855538

Book preview

Slow Down or Stop?

The story is told of a businesswoman who was on a weeklong business trip in South Carolina. One morning she overslept and was rushing to get to one of her meetings. As she approached an intersection, she noticed that there was no traffic and proceeded through the intersection without stopping. She didn’t get very far when she noticed the flashing lights of a state trooper’s vehicle in her rearview mirror, so she pulled over to the side of the road. The trooper approached her car and asked her for her driver’s license and registration. As she handed the credentials to the officer, he asked her, Ma’am, do you know why I stopped y’all?

No! she replied.

Well, ma’am, y’all didn’t stop for the stop sign back there.

She responded, Well, I slowed down!

But, ma’am, the sign says to stop, he replied.

There was no traffic, and I slowed down before I went through the intersection, she said, to which the trooper responded, But ma’am, the sign doesn’t say slow down. The sign says stop!

She replied, Slow down…stop…I had my foot on the brake, what’s the difference?

The officer responded, Ma’am, allow me to demonstrate. He took his nightstick out of its holster and started rapidly tapping her on the head, asking her, Now, ma’am, do you want me to slow down, or do you want me to stop?

Very often, we Christians are very much like the woman in the story when it comes to our attitude about sin. As new Christians, we seem to be very much aware of sin and make the effort to avoid it. We realize that to fall into the trappings of sin can be very destructive. But as we mature in our faith, we tend to get lazy in our efforts to avoid sin. Instead of stopping at the first signs of trouble, we often find ourselves slowing down, tolerating behavior and attitudes in ourselves that deep down we know to be destructive and wrong in the eyes of God.

Instead of being obedient to God, we often find ourselves ignoring Him and going off the straight and narrow path that He wants us to follow. Too often, we reason that God is a forgiving and loving God, and we continue sinning. Like the trooper, God pulls us over to warn us of the dangers we are getting into. He provides us with numerous examples throughout the Bible of the dire consequences we will be faced with if we choose to ignore those warnings. When necessary, He uses His nightstick to get our attention, especially when we try to convince ourselves that we aren’t doing anything wrong.

When we first learn to drive an automobile, we are very careful to obey the laws governing the road. We stop for stop signs and obey posted speed limits. As we gain experience with driving, we tend to get somewhat reckless in that we don’t always stop for stop signs, we exceed the posted speed limit, and we park in areas we are not supposed to. If the woman in our story continues to disregard traffic laws, sooner or later she will end up in a tragic predicament. But if she heeds the trooper’s message and obeys the laws, she will avoid being the cause of an accident.

Hopefully, the trooper’s demonstration will be a lesson not quickly forgotten. The same is true of us and our attitude toward sin. If we heed God’s warnings, we will avoid God’s wrath and receive God’s blessings. But if we choose to ignore Him, we are doomed to suffer the consequences. Ask God to show you where sin has entered into your life and what your attitude toward those sins has been. At the first signs of trouble, did you slow down, or did you stop?

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

—2 Corinthians 13:5

*****

Heavenly Father, show me where I have failed to obey Your Word. Open my heart to the Holy Spirit You have sent to dwell within me to guide me in my life as I follow You. Grant me the strength and the wisdom to always be obedient to You, and I ask this in Jesus’s name, amen.

It Sure Is Dark!

One of my former coworkers had the opportunity to take an extended weekend trip to Massachusetts. As her husband drove through Boston in the middle of the day, they entered one of the tunnels that take traffic under the city. At first, her husband felt that the lights in the tunnel should be enough to illuminate the roadway once his eyes adjusted to the artificial light, but very shortly after entering the tunnel, he turned on the headlights. Within a few moments, he turned on the high beams. He began to slow down, at which point his wife asked him what the problem was.

It sure is dark in this tunnel! he remarked. They need to do something about improving the lighting in these tunnels!

As his wife turned toward him, she remarked, I don’t think the lighting has anything to do with it.

What do you mean? he asked.

She replied, You just might see a lot better if you take off your sunglasses!

It occurred to me that at one time or another, all of us encounter problems that seem to be insurmountable. We try different things in an effort to resolve the problem, but our efforts seem to be in vain. Very often, it’s because we overlook the obvious. Many times, others will offer advice, but we often will ignore their suggestions. Rarely do we look to God and His infinite wisdom to help us get through our dilemma. For whatever reasons, we seem to think that God is too busy, or our problems are too insignificant for God to be bothered with helping us to overcome them. Only when the situation is totally hopeless do we finally turn to Him.

There are many instances in the Bible of people failing to call upon the Lord for guidance and help. They suffered the consequences for their failure to seek God’s wisdom. As Christians, we know that we are to communicate with God often (1 Chronicles 16:11) and to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Trusting our own senses instead of listening to the wisdom of our Heavenly Father through His Holy Spirit will always lead to disaster (Proverbs 14:12). Time and time again, we learn the hard way that ignoring God and failing to call upon His wisdom at the start of any endeavor will only lead us down the wrong path and into trouble. And the lessons learned are too quickly