A Cool Car Does Not Make You Cool!

My facebook friend, preaching colleague, and fellow Hoosier, Max Dawson is a “car guy.”

Max used to have a column entitled “Pontiacs, Points, and Proverbs.” He used stories about cars to make a spiritual application. Here’s a past post from a year ago with an important point to consider without any editorial comment.

A Cool Car Does Not Make You Cool!

Not long ago, someone at church said, “Hey, you really looked cool in that car you were driving the other day.” It might have been my car or maybe one belonging to my friend, David. I sometimes shuttle his cars for him. Once, I drove his Smokey and the Bandit Trans-Am from Silsbee to Beaumont. I got lots of thumbs up, honks, and waves. What a cool car!

Does driving a cool car make you “cool?” I think not. I am not even sure what it means to be “cool.” The world keeps changing its definitions on things like that. In the past, Steve McQueen and Dean Martin were each known as “The King of Cool.” Most young people today don’t even know who those men were! So much for being cool being worth anything lasting!

Lots of cool cars are also fast, high-performance cars! Owning one of those cars does not make you a high-performance driver, though lots of guys think otherwise. If you don’t believe me, just go to YouTube and search “Mustang Crashes.” Low-performance drivers who own high-performance cars! A hot car does not make you a hot driver!

Owning a cool car does not make you cool anymore than owning a piano makes you a pianist. And the same could be said for owning a Bible! Owning a Bible does not make you a Bible-believer. According to a recent Barna report (barna.org), only about 10% of “born-again Christians” have a biblical worldview–though those people all have Bibles.

But the facts are these among the “born-again”: Most do not believe in biblical creation or that Adam and Eve were real persons (Genesis 1-3); most would deny that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17); many would advocate for abortion and homosexuality (Romans 1:24-32); many would oppose the biblical concept of marriage being between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:6-9). The list could go on.

The fact that someone owns a Bible and carries it to church on Sunday does not make that someone a Bible-believer. Witness the fact also that many of those who stand in pulpits week after week would also deny that all Scripture is inspired by God. Add to that the fact that many religious people–even some who claim to be born-again–do not believe Jesus to be the only way of salvation.

Please note these verses.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

What do you really believe about Jesus? Is He the only way to heaven? Do you believe there are other ways to be saved beyond what He gave in His word? (See Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38.)

Remember, having a cool car does not make you cool. Having a piano does not make you a pianist. And having a Bible does not make you a Bible-believer.