Cruising With the Kids!

Our New Mexico rental car these days has made our travel a little more conspicuous than we’re accustomed to! This time, Enterprise put us behind the wheel of a snazzy Dodge Charger for the next two weeks. Back in the day, we proudly owned a plain white two-door 1973 Charger SE with vinyl top and rear quarter opera windows. While it only had a 318 V-8 engine, it had as much power as needed and took us over 200,000 miles!

This rental is a 2023 model with an Octane Red Pearlcoat exterior and black rims, accents, and interior. The 6.2-liter V-8 qualifies for “muscle” and jumps to sixty mph a lot quicker than my number one passenger is comfortable with.😊 I have been trying to hold it back because I know, as a law enforcement chaplain, that the red color, along with the faster acceleration tends to attract unwanted attention!

I am doing some chauffeuring during this visit. The boys have noted that there are a lot of heads turning as we pull up to the school drop-off locations. The grandsons have been hyped and bragging to their friends about how cool their Poppi looks in his beast of a ride! It’s hard for me to throttle back their enthusiasm even if I wanted to. In truth, I’m more than a little stoked with this daily assignment of  “cruising with the kids!”

What brings the kid out in so many of us? I know many guys my age that don’t always act their age. There seems to be a risk-taking teenager trapped deep down in many of us. When given an opportunity to show off, we’ll lapse back into those wild and careless actions that defined our older adolescent years. Some of us just need to grow up, but we just can’t seem to.

In the sixth chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He pointedly addresses how “showing off” misses the mark in what God expects in our service and devotion to him. The central focus in Jewish Piety centered on these big three acts of righteousness: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus expects believers to give to the needy, to pray with honesty and focus on what matters to the Father, and He encourages fasting and what will lead to greater commitment and self-discipline.

Jesus makes clear that if our acts of piety are self-serving and prideful, God will not bless “presumptuous devotion.” The blessing and reward of the Father only comes to those engaged in sincere and inconspicuous acts of giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus repeatedly instructs, “Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

The definition of conspicuous means “attracting notice, attention, or to be seen.” Following Jesus is quite the opposite of attracting attention or being showy in a self-serving way! It might be a good reminder for each of us to take note in what Jesus knows and sees. The short answer is… Everything! We are not fooling Him! If our acts of devotion praise ourselves, they are insincere and will not praise the Father.

Jesus says, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father!” (Matthew 5:16, New Living Translation). Let’s shine for Jesus in the right spirit! Our motivation should only be to draw the attention of others to Him. Praise be to the Father!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,

active churchman and

doting grandparent.

Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com 

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