Making The Drag: Enjoying The Journey On The Highway Of Life Series

Life in the Fast Lane

Making the Drag: Enjoying the Journey on the Highway of Life

John 10:10

Woodlawn Baptist Church

October 10, 2004

Introduction

In John 10:10, Jesus said,

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Remember the drag? How many of you used to make the drag where you went to school? I remember when I first got my driver’s license I picked up a few of my friends and rode over to Mexia to see what was going on. The first thing they wanted to do was make the drag. I’ll have to admit that I have always been out of touch with what everyone else is doing, so I had to ask what the drag was. In Mexia, the drag went for a couple of miles through the middle of town from the Wal-Mart parking lot back through town again. Back and forth we would go, and the first few times I drove it or rode it I remember thinking what a waste of time and gas it was, but the longer I did it the more I wanted to do it, and before I realized what had happened, I was hooked, spending most nights of the week riding back and forth, listening to the radio, enjoying the people, racing anyone I thought I could beat, and especially wasting my time and my gas.

It has been said that in the fall of man Paradise was lost, and with it, everything that made life worth living. But if there is one thing worse than that it is that we as a people have grown adjusted to it. We’ve become broken into the idea that this is just the way things are. The people who walk in darkness have adjusted their eyes. Like the drag, most of us live as though this life, the one you’re living today is pretty much the way things are supposed to be.

I didn’t realize it back in school, but life is a journey. For many people, the journey is a lot like the drags we used to ride, back and forth, always going in circles, having fun, enjoying the people, but wasting our time and never really going anywhere. Oh, sometimes you could change the scenery – you might ride with someone new, or take a detour along the way. You might get a new car or find some new tunes, but you always came back, riding back and forth, never really going anywhere.

Do you ever feel that way in life? If you were to be honest, some of you would have to admit that regardless of how you have changed the scenery of your life with different jobs and homes and cars, or even with different friends and sometimes even spouses, you know that you’ve just been going in circles. Life today is little different than it used to be. You still have the same troubles, the same worries, the same fears, the same struggles, and in spite of your efforts to get off the drag, something keeps pulling you back in, and if you are like most people, you simply accept that this is how life is supposed to be.

In the verse we read, Jesus said that the thief, Satan, comes into your life to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He wants to make sure that he keeps you riding in circles, never going anywhere, slowly but surely wasting your life away. He wants to steal your time, kill your hopes and dreams, and destroy your desire for life as God intended it. Whether you realize it or not, Satan has been at work all your life to keep you from seeing what’s really been going on. I told you last week that he has three powerful tools he uses in your life. They are noise, hurry, and crowds. So long as he can keep those as constants in your life you won’t have the time and you won’t develop the spiritual ears to hear the voice of God calling you out of the trap into the journey of a lifetime – into the abundant life God longs for you to live.

Today I want you to know that God is calling to you – calling you park the car for a few moments this morning, turn off the noise, escape the crowds, and listen to His gentle voice beckoning you to a life filled with joy and great purpose. If you were riding along on the drag this morning and you suddenly realized that its not getting you where you need to go, then you know you’d need to do something. If you are hearing God’s voice calling you to that journey, to that new and exciting destination, then you need to…