Simply Delightful
Images of the Porsche 911 (992) GT3 RS have lapped the internet by now, ratcheting up interest in what should be a spectacular car. It better be, because it’s replacing a late wonder of the automotive world: the 2018 (991.2) GT3 RS.
It was a stroker: 4.0 liters of flat-six fury with 500 horsepower and a 9000-rpm redline. Its PDK transmission had a launch-control program that revved the engine to 6600 rpm and then dumped the clutch, taking perilously over-stimulated drivers to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Oh, and it was also one of the best-handling cars of all time.
Curb weight was down to a low 3,155 pounds. That’s 172 pounds lighter than a “standard” GT3, thanks to single-piece carbon fiber seats (borrowed from the 918 Spyder) and carbon fiber fenders. For the truly obsessed, the air conditioning and radio could be deleted. Surprisingly, Porsche offered this as a no-cost option.
Porsche never does that. Their options lists are notoriously exorbitant. But here it made sense. The things that were taken away don’t just detract from the GT3 RS’s mission, but its core character. The car was more complete without them.
In a way, Porsche is a lot like God (which is what Porsche fans have been saying all along). God removes sin from your heart because it doesn’t belong there. You’re more complete without it. He gets to enjoy you as the person he made, and that thrills him more than a car company releasing a special car:
“He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” 2 Samuel 22:20.
God doesn’t rescue you from sin out of obligation, compulsion, or duty. He does it because he delights in you.
This verse is repeated verbatim in Psalm 18:19, written by David. His authorship explains the word choice. After all, God delighted in David, a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). The Bible uses similar verbs to describe the movement of God’s heart toward Jesus (“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,’” from Matthew 3:17), Mary (who “had “found favor with God,” according to Luke 1:30), and Noah (who “found favor in the eyes of the Lord,” according to Genesis 6:8). Yes, you rank with them. God loves you, your character, and your purpose that much.
When God takes you out of your comfort zone and flips your life upside down with his grace, truth, and love, he’s rescuing you because he delights in you.
When your habit becomes a vice which becomes an addiction before turning into your demise, God intervenes and rescues you because he delights in you.
When your loneliness is crushing you and God sends an exceptional person into your life, God is rescuing you because he delights in you.
That old stuff is gone. It doesn’t belong in your new life. In fact, it only weighs you down. God is thrilled to gut it from your interior, for free, because he thinks you’re truly delightful.
The 2018 911 GT3 RS puts up some incredible numbers, along with one that’s basically meaningless: its $189,000 MSRP. With dealer markups and options, no one paid less than two-hundred grand for one of these. Does it matter? Nope. Buyers will testify that they’re better off without that money anyway because they have a machine they truly delight in.
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