A Modern Parable

I was walking back to my dorm from the School of Music (a thirty-minute walk) when I started coming up with a random parable. I guess God wanted to teach me something through it. He kept adding more and more to the parable as I walked, which is great because I had half an hour to think of new stuff to add to it. So here it is.

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The Christian life is like driving to a party at a friend's house. You get to the house, park on the side of the road, and go inside. A few minutes later, you realize you forgot something in the car, so you go back out to get it, only to find a cop standing next to your car with a parking ticket. It turns out you had parked next to a fire hydrant and hadn't noticed it. What's worse is that the cop is your father. Your father hands you the parking ticket knowing you don't have the money to pay the fine, so he pays it for you. Then you give the ticket back, saying, "Let me just stay parked here a little while longer," and then go back inside. Your father has no choice but to arrest you and have the car towed.

In a similar situation, the same thing happens, but you hop in the car immediately to move it out of the way. Unfortunately, the car won't start. So your father calls a towing company to drag the car to the auto shop, where he gets the battery replaced. You then drive home following your father.

The police officer represents Jesus, the fire hydrant symbolizes sin, and the car is your life, while your friend's house represents the world. We are to be in the world, but not of it; we are not to let worldly things consume us. Before the Law was introduced in the Old Testament, sin was undefined; so the Law had to be put in place so that we would know right from wrong (Romans 7:7-9). In the parable, the son/daughter parks next to sin and doesn't realize that it was sin until his/her Father points it out as sin. We then have to pay the price for our sin, which is death; but instead, knowing that we couldn't pay the penalty ourselves, our Father came to us in the form of the Man Jesus and paid the price for us, setting us free (Romans 6:23). God's judgment, the parking ticket, has been satisfied (1 Peter 3:18). But the son/daughter in the first scenario then takes that forgiveness and abuses it by doing nothing to change his/her life and returning to the world. That person is consumed by the world, caring more about the party (the momentary pleasures of the world) than moving his/her car (getting out of sin to benefit him/her in the long run). The price Jesus paid is then worthless to that person because he/she has essentially refused it (James 1:22, 2:17). That person's car (life) is then dragged off, and he/she is put in jail (hell) because he/she has broken the law, and there is no more remedy (John 15:6; Hebrews 6:4-6).

On the other hand, the person in the second scenario gets in the car to move it, making an attempt to get out of sin (James 1:21-22, 25). But he/she finds that it is an impossible task to do alone, so he/she relies on the Father (John 15:5b; Luke 18:27; Philippians 4:13). Only through the grace of God can we dig ourselves out of the hole that is sin. Then instead of being thrown into prison/hell, our Father leads us home to heaven (John 14:6; Psalm 23:6).

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I thought it was really cool how God kept throwing more and more comparisons at me as I thought through this parable, so I just had to share it. I hope this helped someone.

Until next time, God bless!

Michael

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"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21