I stopped this morning to fill up the car.
The warning light had come on, so I figured it was time a good time.
Here’s What Happened
When I opened the car my glasses fogged over. It’s Houston, it’s warm and humid and when the warm damp air hit my air-conditioned glasses, then BAM!
I couldn’t see very well, but pressed the button to release the gas tank door and stepped out of the car, but the little door wasn’t open. So I pressed it again, and again. I banged on it a few times and concluded it was broken. If I couldn’t open it, then I couldn’t fill the tank.
Then I noticed the trunk was open.
Notice The Progression
- Press the button to open the door
- See the door’s not open
- Press the button again
- See that its still not open
- Bang on the door a few times
- Nope
- Getting concerned
- Press the button again, harder
- Realize the trunk is open
- Close trunk
- Press the other button, the one next to the trunk button
- Gas door open
It Took A Minute
In a minute my glasses cleared up, but by then the whole scenario had played out. I was sure I was pressing the right button. If I hadn’t noticed the trunk, which doesn’t rise all the way up when opened, then who knows, I might still be at the gas station, pounding the wrong button.
Some Thoughts
Foggy vision can lead to such mistakes. It didn’t matter that I was sure I was pressing the right button. My certainty didn’t make a wrong thing right.
When Jesus was on trial, the people were calling for the death penalty, they were certain, and they were sure. They were sure he was a blasphemer, a false teacher, and a deceiver of the people. They hated him for claiming God as his Father. So they killed him. The mob loves a good lynching every now and then.
And After
Later, after his ascension, he sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles and gave the gift to all mankind. The evidence was rock solid. Judea’s leaders had pressed the wrong button. Their minds were clouded, their vision foggy, and they nailed the Son of God to the cross. But they were sure.
In Closing
Perhaps the better thing would have been to clear my glasses. I would have clearly seen the right button to push.
How are your eyes this morning? Clear? Foggy?
If needed, take a moment to clear the foggy, smoggy, cloudiness out of your minds and hearts. Being sure you are right isn’t the same as being right.
Are you pushing the right button?
Shalom
