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Jesus
as "co-pilot"*
I
was riding down the road the other day when I noticed a bumper
sticker on a car that red, "Jesus is my
co-pilot." my first reaction, as it always seems to
be with "pop-theology" was - "very cool, Jesus as
a co-pilot - I like it." but, as I pondered the
thought along my ride I started to develop a very strong second
thought to the concept. I
started thinking back to my football days when I was the captain
of the team our coach, in all his wisdom, decided that we
needed a "co-captain" to help out the team. as
co-captain it was his responsibility to take over my duties if I
were injured (which happened a lot) or out of town. I was
still the captain, the one the other players looked to as an
example. I
selected the plays, and the co-captain backed me up. I
helped with the play book; I helped the coach in areas of the
team; I was the one in charge of selecting (with the guidance of
the coach) the starting players. I was the one the coach
looked to to help guide the team, and the co-captain was simply
there - outside the loop. when
we say, "Jesus is my co-pilot" aren't we saying,
"I am in charge, and Jesus is simply there to back me
up." when in reality, it's the other way
around! seeing Jesus as a co-anything is seeing Him as a
"genie" - commanded to do what we want, when we want
it. I
tend to see a few problems with this theology, first, is
that we start to see Jesus as an equal in our walk, instead of
seeing Jesus as the one in charge of our walk. second, it
can make us think that Jesus is at our beck-and -call, instead
of us living our life for Christ. it says, "I control
my walk and Jesus is just along for the ride." it
says that all life decisions are made by us, for us, through us
and centered on us - instead of Christ. we
need to remember that we are to walk with Christ - it is not to
be Christ walking with us. keep in mind it is based on a
starting point - one starts with Christ, the other starts with
us. we are to walk with Jesus. in matthew (4:18-22)
Jesus tells peter to "follow me." notice, Jesus
did not say, "walk and I will follow you."
seeing Jesus as a co-pilot is placing Jesus second to our
wishes. for a people who are quick to get our theology off
of bumper stickers, cereal boxes, or tv shows tells us we are
looking in the wrong direction. when we do, we find it
hold less truth and more "sound bites." to
carry the metaphor on - Jesus is the pilot; God is the plain;
the Holy Spirit is the co-pilot; we are just along for the ride.
by
pastor john o'keefe
John
O’Keefe is the founder of www.ginkworld.net.
John sees a desperate need for the church as a whole to
change and reach a new people for Christ.
He is straightforward, honest and calls it the way it he
sees it. John is a
graduate of Drew and has been a Senior Pastor and Church Planter
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