Titus 3:1-2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

This sounds almost exactly like videos I have seen of people giving advice on how to not get arrested. Particularly in situations like traffic stops, our attitude makes all the difference in the world. The thing is, such things are actually common sense, but cultural factors can make such sense quite uncommon! Believers are to be strong in their convictions and on the side of right and justice, but our default attitude should not be combative. We need to remember what Moses told the Israelites at the Red Sea: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14) When we are defensive, we only make more trouble for ourselves. We will endure plenty of attacks without inviting more with our attitude.

I have avoided speeding tickets in both the US and Japan this way. Around 50 years ago we were living in Denver and I was working as a janitor, going home after work around 3 in the morning, and I got stopped. I had a broken speedometer cable (yes, there used to be a spinning, flexible shaft that connected the speedometer with the drive train of cars) and knew it, so I immediately asked the officer if I was going too fast. He seemed a little surprised, and asked me why I had said that, so I told him about the speedometer cable. That wasn’t an unusual problem in a Denver winter, and he told me to be careful and get it fixed promptly, and sent me on my way. In Japan, back roads have no posted speed limit, but the law is that in such cases the limit is 60 KPH. I have been told by police that the buffer is 10 KPH, so up to 70 won’t get you into trouble. One day I was following another car, not too closely, on a rather wide back road and we were doing around 80 KPH when we encountered a speed trap. I spoke in very friendly fashion to the officer and showed him my license, saying nothing at all about speed, and when he saw that my license had the gold stripe that indicates no violations for over 5 years, he sent me on my way. I’m not justifying myself, but I do know that Paul’s advice here is extremely practical!

Father, thank You that You care about every detail of our lives. Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, receiving and sharing Your grace, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!