Law and Gospel
If you aren’t simply smitten by the original Miata – and you’re brave enough to admit it – perhaps someone has tried to win you over by giving a complete explanation of the two most important parts of the car: the grim context in which it was released, and the church-choir, gospel-singing goodness of its character.
The context: Things were bleak for sports car lovers in the 1980s. Porsche was hemorrhaging money as it experimented with front-engine replacements for the 911, all of which seemed more expensive than the last. The Ford Probe almost became the Ford Mustang (or maybe it was the other way around). Nissan’s Z car was in its awkward teen years. Jaguar had moved on to luxury, and TVR into obscurity. Triumph and MG were dead. Lotus was about to build a front-drive car. Mazda product planners saw that enthusiasts’ best option on the market was a small, simple, front-drive Volkswagen hatchback and thought that maybe a small, simple, well-constructed sports car should also be an option.
The gospel: Mazda gave enthusiasts sports-car tech at an economy-car price: a twin-cam engine, independent suspension and disc brakes at all four wheels, and one of the sweetest-shifting 5-speed manuals at any price. Enthusiastic car reviewers had no choice but to use the laziest of all clichés: it was even better than the sum of its parts.
Any good news is contextualized by the grim circumstances surrounding it. That’s what John experienced in the middle of his Revelation, when an “eternal angel” shouted the eternal, all-encompassing gospel within its context:
“Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Humans cannot escape the context of living in a world –created solely by God – that has become filled with excess, indulgence, corruption, inequality, and arrogance, all of which seek to replace God. Yet humans also cannot escape the true Gospel: God loves humans too much to ignore the destruction, and sent Jesus to make it right.
You need reminders of both the context and the Gospel every day. If your usual M.O. is sailing along on easy street, goosing the throttle in your Miata just to hear that little 1.6-liter engine purr, confident in your ability, and savoring the pleasures of life, perhaps it’s time for a reminder of God’s sovereignty and desire for you to seek him first. Or if you trudge through life, driving your Miata cautiously to avoid being squashed by gigantic modern cars like the Honda Civic, grieved by injustice and brokenness in yourself and the decaying world around you, you’re probably ready for a reminder that God has a plan to judge, correct, and restore everything, and he does this out of deep love for all people – including you.
Yes, life is imperfect. But God is perfect, he loves every bit of you, and he has a perfect plan to make everything new.
Mazda is sometimes lionized as mavericks who brought a peerless product to market for altruistic motives. But they did plenty of research and development to arrive at the Miata, which became a huge sales success in its early years and then did something unexpected: prompt other automakers to create competitors. Yes, the gospel truth of the Miata is that it also spawned the likes of the Porsche Boxster, BMW Z3, and Honda S2000. Interesting. Maybe God works the same way, and scatters his people throughout this imperfect world to make it just a little bit better.
