We've Been Saved
And thank God it wasn't up to us
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
It took 945 days for Lewis Hamilton to win his next race.
When it comes to Formula 1, I’m a new fan.
The first season I watched was Max Verstappen’s maiden championship season.
December 5th, 2021 was the last time Lewis won.
945 Days until July 7th, 2024
What’s amazing is that Sir Lewis Hamilton is widely considered to be the best Formula I driver of all time.
And yet he couldn’t win a race in three years.
Formula I is as much a team sport as any sport I’ve ever seen.
Thousands of engineers, mechanics, designers, and manufacturers spend their careers tweaking and improving on an ever-improving formula to make the car drive as fast as possible in straights and turns.
But like every sport, there are a set of regulations about what components the car must have to be legal to race.
Many think this type of racing depends on how well you can drive, but that assumption is why there can be such a gap between race wins.
If your car doesn’t drive well, it doesn’t matter who is behind the wheel.
You won’t win.
The driving effort can be tremendous but still, it may yield a 5th place finish.
This reminds me of Ephesians 2:8
“For grace you have been saved through faith…and this is not your own doing; It is the gift of God”
I know it’s a stretch to compare being saved to the success in Formula 1, but Lewis’ driving reminds me of ourselves.
We may be the most obedient Christians of all time, and yet we can do nothing to save ourselves.
Just like there is nothing Lewis could have done to make his car go half a second faster on the straight section of the race track.
Even though we can’t save ourselves, it’s still important to put our best effort forward in doing the best for God because we love him.
All the good in life we do is fantastic, but can’t be enough on its own.
Lewis is a fantastic driver and he snapped his 945-day streak with excellent driving, but mostly because of his team.
Unless we are one of the “top 20” Christians in the world, we can’t compare our Christianity to the driving of Lewis Hamilton.
How lucky we are that being a Christian isn’t a competition!
Because with God we will always win the ultimate prize.
Not through ourselves, but because of what God has already done to save us
-G. Banks