Yield signs along the roadways are we see every single day. Those yield signs are so common that we sometimes don’t even really consciously register them. I mean, we don’t usually think to ourselves in a complete sentence “oh, a yield sign, it’s my turn to slow down and wait for traffic to pass” or “oh, they have to wait for me to pass.” For us as experienced drivers, we just register the sign and drive accordingly.
That being said, not everyone actually follows the rules with yield signs. You know the driver who has plenty of room to move over to let us merge easily? You know the driver who comes to a complete stop at a yield sign even if no one is coming? My mom used to say “it says yield, not give up!”
It occurred to me the other day that following the rules for a yield sign aren’t terribly unlike a spiritual walk. Sometimes we expect people to yield to us because we are moving so fast on our walk with God. Other times we feel like we have to yield to people speeding by because they are themselves moving so fast. Really though, the yield sign is really just a way to merge, to join, the traffic that represents people moving along in their walk with God.
I think that’s really the point with our walk with God. Certainly some people are further along in their walk. They are well ahead of us on the road. Sometimes there are people behind us in their walk, they are coming up behind us to the yield sign.
I have found that it is easy at times to be intimidated by the speed of the traffic sometimes into which we need to yield. Again, in this case the traffic represents other people walking with God. When we see so many people going so fast it is so easy to become intimidated and slow down, sometimes even stop, waiting for a break to finally speed up and join with that traffic.
Wouldn’t it be great though if the traffic in the merge lane would slow down a little and we would speed up a little and meet each other in the middle? Encouraging each other to merge into the same highway that represents out walk with God. The people moving fast moving over to let us bring ourselves up to speed. The people merging to speed up a little bit to let everything keep on flowing.
So the question becomes, what kind of driver are you in your walk with God? Are you moving along at highway speed, keeping up with the traffic? Or are you taking it more slowly, waiting for a space to open up so we can then speed up?
I think it is best to not be intimidated by the speed of others, the people who are really moving fast in their walk. Let’s use their speed to motivate ourselves to keep up, to accelerate into the highway that is leading us on our walk with God.
Maybe if we all cooperate on the highway we could all move along a little faster, a little more efficiently, to get up to speed. Just like God wants, take turns. Help each other. Move along. Accelerate in his glory.
