Are you a light runner?

We all probably know someone who runs those amber lights, or much worse, takes a red one or two from time to time. What do they do just before running those lights? You would be right if you said they punch the gas pedal down a little to speed up the vehicle, but I think there is one other thing they do that you might not have noticed. They take a quick look in the rear-view mirror, at the side street cars waiting in line, and if there are no cops or traffic cameras in either view, they fly on through! They are looking to see if they will get caught - if their 'sin' will get noticed by anyone who can do something about it. 

Everyone who sins hates the Light. He stays away from the Light because his sin would be found out. The man who does what is right comes to the Light. What he does will be seen because he has done what God wanted him to do. (John 3:20-21)

Truth be told, the fear of being caught far outweighs the desire to maintain safety at that moment. There isn't much time to react, so a cursory glance is about all they can muster up when approaching that stale amber or red light. The issue with giving life a 'cursory glance' is that we often miss stuff that we should have been able to see. Life requires more than a cursory glance to see if we will 'get caught' by some 'infraction' or lapse in good judgment. It requires us to pay attention to our decisions - even well in advance of when we make them!

All of us face some form of 'intersection' in our day to day life. We all have those moments when we can stop and be safe, or just charge on through without much thought toward the consequences of avoiding the light we are given. An amber  light is 'given' to us to help us to be safe - to bring ourselves to a stop well in advance of having to make a rash decision as to how to respond. When we position ourselves to be moving toward the light of Christ in all matters in our lives, we are less likely to be concerned with 'getting caught' at one of those 'intersections' that present themselves as 'light running' moments. 

Doing what God wants us to do means we pay attention to the 'color' of the lights in our lives. We have the solid green light that God gives for some actions, while there are others that appear as the 'amber' ones do on the intersection lights. What are those amber lights for in our lives? They are to cause us to slow down, to consider our actions, to pay closer attention, and to get an otherwise out of control situation under control one again. If we move when we get the 'green light', slow down when we get the 'amber' ones, and firmly stop when we get the 'red' ones, we will be a whole lot better off in the long run! Just sayin!