For God’s Sake

The next day we left rain-sodden Naples for the six-hundred-mile drive to Navarre, my wife driving our car, and me at the wheel of the truck. Before leaving, I went online to answer a nagging question in the back of my mind; do I need to stop at the truck weigh stations? The answer is yes! There are four of them between Navarre and Naples, plus an agricultural inspection station. At the first station, I pulled on the scales and after about thirty-seconds was instructed over a loudspeaker to pull into the lot and come inside with my paperwork. What’s this about? My truck was overweight, but since I am not a commercial driver there were no consequences. With a friendly, “Be careful,” from the official, we resumed our journey.

This scenario was repeated twice more, the second time with a scolding followed by a soapbox speech about rental companies’ negligence in this matter. At the third stop, I went on the offensive and asked where an amateur like me could get a truck weighed. “Hmmm, good question,” the official replied. Feeling somewhat vindicated, we pressed on. The next stop was the Agricultural station and that was without incident – Brewster didn’t qualify as livestock. The fourth weigh-station stop was what I had been hoping for all along. I stopped on the scales, and after about ten seconds, the light turned green and my overloaded truck and I were free to go. Don’t misunderstand me, I appreciate the diligence of the DOT in ensuring our safety on the road, I was simply frustrated at having to come inside each time to be told what I had already learned at the first stop. In thinking over the experience, I realize that my frustration was much like what I feel when the enemy of our souls nags me about past sins so as to weigh me down with guilt.

I’ve written before about guilt, the beneficial kind. This is the guilt the Spirit of God brings to the one whose faith is in Christ alone to make him aware of his sin. This I call convicting guilt, a healthy sense of discomfort and shame over sin that motivates us to confess it to God and have the burden of guilt lifted. Our adversary, Satan, attempts to keep the forgiven one feeling guilty with a condemning guilt, a nagging guilt intended to make him doubt the forgiveness of sin assured him in Christ, and even to doubt that a wretch like him could belong to Christ. In times like this, it is good to have believing friends who can assure you of the truth.

We pulled into Navarre late that same night. Then over the next two days, with the help of some loving friends, we unloaded that truck. It was very satisfying to see that once over-burdened truck free of its burden.