15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

"Watch yourself!" And "Jesus is watching!"

Being diligent means being attentive, paying attention, because it seems everything is on a slippery slope.

If you drive a car, you know that you have to constantly adjust the steering wheel according to the lay of the road, the traffic around you, and sometimes the weather conditions. You are constantly touching the accelerator or the brakes, again depending on the circumstances. We wouldn't be able to get from here to there without making adjustments. Pay attention!

These days, of course, we're getting close to having self-driving cars. My car is 7 years old, and has a warning beeper and light if I turn on my signal while there is a car beside me in the blind spot. And it warns me if I put the car in reverse when there is someone behind me. That's it. A few years ago, we rented a car in Florida that had cruise control that automatically detected when the car in front slowed down. At first, I found it kind of annoying - before I figured out what was going on. Now, cars self-park, have automatic braking, and more features are being developed all the time. In North America, Tesla seems to be leading the way, but don't be surprised, Amazon has Zoox, a robotaxi, and you know more are on the way.

Don't you wish we had some kind of early-detection navigation system for life? Maybe we do.

For everyone, it's a conscience. What we do with it is up to us - no one is forced to use their conscience, and we know that some are so calloused and seared that the nerve endings have lost all sensation. Once a cat sits on a hot stove, a cat will never sit on a hot stove again. In fact, a cat will never sit on any stove again. Once bitten twice shy - you get the idea. You know the story of the frog in the kettle that would jump out of hot water, but if it jumps in when the water is cool, and then it gets heated up, it will boil to death. So many warnings!

For the believer, it's also the Holy Spirit, who nudges and encourages, but who occasionally shouts, "Hey! That's out of bounds! Don't go there! Don't you see the cliff? You're heading for disaster!" And sometimes our response is, "It's okay! I'm being careful! I'll be fine!" And then we fall off the cliff. The Holy Spirit doesn't force anyone to accept his guidance, but we reject it at our own peril.