I don’t know why. I have no excuse or plausible reason for my feelings. How hard is it to always wear a seatbelt? Yet, it just annoys me to have to do it. With grudging guilt, I will “click it” just to make sure I don’t get a “ticket.” Perhaps I would feel differently if I had been in a car accident but, thankfully, I never have. Maybe my feelings stem from that fact that for most of my years of having a driver’s license, a seat belt wasn’t required. That changed in 2019.
Effective July 3, 2019, House Bill 62 of the 133rd General Assembly, O.R.C. 4513.263 reads, “(B) No person shall do any of the following: (1) Operate an automobile on any street or highway unless that person is wearing all of the available elements of a properly adjusted occupant restraining device, or operate a school bus that has an occupant restraining device installed for use in its operator’s seat unless that person is wearing all of the available elements of the device, as properly adjusted; (2) Operate an automobile on any street or highway unless each passenger in the automobile who is subject to the requirement set forth in division (B)(3) of this section is wearing all of the available elements of a properly adjusted occupant restraining device; (3) Occupy, as a passenger, a seating position on the front seat of an automobile being operated on any street or highway unless that person is wearing all of the available elements of a properly adjusted occupant restraining device…”1
The wheels of O.R.C 4513.263 were set in motion on this day in 1962. Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin was issued United States Patent No. 3,043,625 for the three-point seatbelt. The explanation from Bohlin as recorded in the patent is, “The object… is to provide a safety belt which independently of the strength of the seat and its connection with the vehicle in an effective and physiologically favorable manner retains the upper as well as the lower part of the body of the strapped person against the action of substantially forwardly directed forces and which is easy to fasten and unfasten and even in other respects satisfies rigid requirements.”2
According to the CDC, automobile accidents are a leading cause of death in the United States. Properly wearing seatbelts is the most effective way to prevent injury or death. In 2021, more than 26,000 people died as a passenger or driver because of a car accident. More than half of those were not buckled up at the time. In essentially the same time span, 15,000 lives were saved by the use of the seatbelt.
While the seatbelt is effective, it is not 100% effective. People wearing seatbelts die in car accidents. However, I’m secured by a three-point safety belt in my salvation that is 100% effective. It’s called the Trinity.
John 10:27-30 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. (30) I and my Father are one.”
The first point of my salvation security is Jesus. His blood and the power of His resurrection saved me. That Gospel message is effective for all who believe.
The second point of security is that I’ve been placed into the Father’s hand. These two points of security keep safe and saved all who will believe. We have eternal life. We will never perish. Nobody can pluck us out of the Father’s hand. But there’s one more point on the spiritual seatbelt.
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Placed IN the Father’s hand BY the blood of Jesus and SEALED by the Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit is the earnest – the downpayment and guarantor of that inheritance that won’t be claimed until the day of redemption.
I have to make the decision to put on my seatbelt in my car. Nobody can make that decision for me. When I decided to trust Jesus as my Savior, that was a decision I had to make and nobody could make it for me, either. But, when I trust Jesus as my 
Savior, HE buckles me in like a parent buckles in their child. And He will never unbuckle the seatbelt. Praise God, I am ETERNALLY buckled up!!!
We believe in the security of the believer NOT because we are Baptist but because we believe the Bible. God never welches on His promises. Instead, we are reminded in 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (21) Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; (22) Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” And this seal stays in place “until the day of redemption.”
1https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4513.263
2https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-patent-issued-for-three-point-seatbelt
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