From the time he was five years old John Britten loved making things. He used wooden boxes and old nails to make go-carts. Every few weeks he would make a different one. By the time he was twelve, he had made his first motorized go-cart.
In 1993 his Britten Superbike broke the New Zealand land speed record for motorbikes of 1000 cc. The bike has beaten top bikes around the world. Even top factory-made racing bikes could not catch it in major races. The Britten bike has become famous.
John Britten built his first bike by hand in his garage. To pay for the equipment while designing and making it, he designed and made glass lights. The Britten bike was completely different from conventional bikes, and every part was made especially for it.
He also built his own home, converting it from stables. For fifteen years John had three major projects going on at the same time: lights, home and bike. During this time John was too busy to think about God or even to read his Bible. Taken up with all these things, he was losing out on God’s race.
Then, everything changed. John Britten discovered that he had cancer. God turned his mind to spiritual things. He began remembering all the talks he had with his grandmother, remembering how she prayed so much for him, as she did for all her grandchildren. The things he had thought were so important (like the bike) were not so important anymore. His aunt warned him that he could not put off the decision about Christ any longer; it was now or never. She spoke to him about the Lord, and he accepted Christ as his Saviour.
John is no longer a loser!
Although his grandmother died ten years ago, her prayers for John have been answered. Imagine the joy there must have been in heaven when John accepted the Lord Jesus! Jesus said, “I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:1010Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10)).
For much of his life John Britten was very busy and successful, but he was a loser - he had no hope of eternal life. If he had died like that, he would have been a total loser. But now in Christ he has become a winner - almost a loser, but by God’s grace now a winner. Every person who has Jesus as Saviour is a winner! All of us, even the best, are born losers. God says that none of us are righteous, none of us do good - “no, not one.”
He gave the Lord Jesus to die for us so that we could be made right. The “righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ” is “unto all and upon all them that believe” (Romans 3:2222Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22)).
When you accept the fact that you are a sinner before God and that God sent His Son to die for your sins, you will be saved from punishment. That is how to become a winner in God’s eyes.