E=R

Our family is a racing family.  We love watching NASCAR and Indy Car races on the weekends.  Even going to them occasionally and all the drama involved with the drivers and different race teams that participate week after week.  It was my Uncle, who has worked in the tire industry for years, that got the racing bug in us.  I remember when I was younger I was at his warehouse helping him out on a weekend.  We took a break and went into his office where he had several different pictures of himself with famous race car drivers, crew chiefs, and car owners hanging on the walls.  There was one picture that caught my eye, in fact it wasn't a picture at all.  It was a framed piece of paper that looked like it was printed off of a computer printer.  In bold letters it read E=R.  I asked my Uncle what does that mean.  He said it came from the legendary car owner Roger Penske.  It stands for Effort Equals Results.

 James 2:14-17 states:  'What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.'

There is effort involved in a racing team to prepare for their race, but their results will improve the more effort that is put forth. It is the same for whatever we are doing.  Whether it be our jobs or the effort we put forth to do things together as a family.  A result will equal the effort put forth.  James reminds us that our works are not the result of our efforts, rather they are the results of our faith in Jesus Christ.  If we understand our faith in what we read from God's Word our results will be glorifying God and not ourselves.