Ride Of Your Life

James A. Baker, III, former secretary of state in the administration of George Bush senior has a word to say to people with Escalator lifestyle.

He tells of an experience he had when he was White House Chief of Staff during the Reagan Administration. He was being driving down Pennsylvania Avenue surrounded by all the trappings of power. He was riding in limousine, of course. He had aides all around him, security just outside the car, reporters following in other cars. All his aides were busy answering phones, talking to people who wanted to talk to him. Baker says, he looked down the street and noticed a man walking alone. The man had no limousine, no security, no reporters, no one calling him on the phone. But James Baker recognized this man. He was the chief of staff in a prior administration. And Baker said, In a couple of years, that is going to be me. That is the problem with an escalator lifestyle it does not lead anywhere and what results there are quickly pass away.

[Paraphrased from the Address at 1 February 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., by Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, entitled "Faith, Friendship and Collective Responsibility" (Unpublished manuscript)].

Now as we think about Carter and Sokol’s four rides, we ask which of these rides describe the Christian life? Is our life in Christ a slide downward. Certainly not. Is it a treadmill on which we are always running in one place. I hope not. What about an escalator of our achievements? Not hardly. A Christian life focuses on Christ not on ourselves.

Is life a roller coaster full of ups and downs. The reality is that every human life has its high moments and its downers. To some extent, we are all roller coaster people—whether we like it or not. We have times when we are high on God and times when we are just depressed about God and everything else. But that is not the way its supposed be. Sometimes human life may be like a roller coaster, but our life in God ought to grow and increase in spite of the ups and downs and stress and strain of ordinary living.

Peter’s Advice

As we think about lifestyles, we note that First Peter has some advice on this subject. Peter writes to first century Christians. These believers once participated in a great and attractive pagan society, but since their conversion to Christ, they have become outcasts. The society to which they once belonged now regards them as somewhat dangerous aliens. Thus, they face a lifestyle crisis. The way they formerly lived is no longer available. What then shall they do?

Peter quickly disposes of any tendency to look back to better times. He says in v18, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors.” Peter may have a couple of things in mind here. He may be thinking of the Jewish tradition that was his inheritance. Or he may be thinking of the pagan tradition of many of his readers. Both traditions, he emphasizes, are ineffective when it comes to enabling us to live in the power and presence of God.