Managing an F1 team is no joke; There are just so many emails to read and respond to. You've got the press, your boss who's asking for results, and then the temperamental drivers, engineers, pit crew, and every other human being that you are paying. But as an F1 fan, playing a fictional manager in a management simulation game is a dream come true!
While Motorsport Manager was released in 2016, the game holds its longevity with the many mods created by die-hard fans and amateur developers. There are so many complex decisions and tasks in this game that it makes me giddy as I consider the many unorthodox choices I can make and the resulting train-wrecks.
One of the interesting details included in the game is the scrutineering process. After each race, the FIA officials scrutinize all the cars to ensure they are within the rules. As it turns out, you can research and design risky gray-area or illegal parts for your cars as part of your management and development strategy. In essence, you can cheat as long as you don't get caught. This game truly reflects the problematic morality of F1!
For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
-Romans 3:20
Rules and laws have a funny way of motivating us. Even as children, rules are like guard rails on a cliff that we like to lean over as far as we can without falling over. We push and prod our parent's rules to see how far we can go before being disciplined.
The truth is, rules are not something we like to embrace or celebrate. Rather, they are something we want to overcome and take advantage of. When we read rules, we want to discover the loopholes. Rules and laws motivate us to break them more than to follow them.
God knew that sinful human beings would not be motivated to follow the rules and laws. Our self-centredness and pride oppose any external "scrutineering" by others, even God. This is why what we think is right or our rights often benefits no one else but ourselves or those like us. It is why we have racism, nationalism, freedom convoys, and other self-centred movements. At the heart of it, we think we are better than others, and we value ourselves higher than others.
From the very beginning of time, God's commandment to human beings is given for the benefit of all humankind. It reflects how his created beings were to flourish and function, but more importantly, it led us to the ultimate solution to our sin. Knowing that people would not follow God's law [Old Testament] wholeheartedly, He sent Jesus to set us free from our corrupted nature. For Christ-followers today, we don't look at the laws as something external imposing on us, but like the prophet Jeremiah writes,
"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time," declares the Lord.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
-Jeremiah 31:33
The law of God will be etched into our hearts and minds.
Jesus' commandment to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' will be embraced as my own. I will not be obeying out of compliance or duty but out of love for God and His words. That's the work of the Holy Spirit in all believers, and it is an important work that all Christians participate in with the Holy Spirit. If we don't cooperate with the Spirit, we will always struggle with God's Law; We will always be looking for the freedom that is out of our grasp.
Today, our world desperately needs more Christians who flourish in the freedom that can only be found in Christ. We need Christ-followers who are not looking for loopholes and minimum requirements but instead seek to welcome the self-giving and sacrificial law of love that Christ has modelled for us.
Have you been cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the transformation of your hearts and mind? Are you still holding on to living life your own way and desires?
If you are still worried about how God may evaluate you on judgement day, maybe it is time to replace that fear of failing the scrutineering process with Jesus. Perhaps it is time to come clean in prayer about our motivations and open our souls to the uneasy but rewarding renovation of our hearts.