A Game?

How arrogant the game pieces were posturing themselves on the checkerboard, full of their importance, strength, and imagined power, flexing themselves like kids in a sandlot ready to duke it out. So self-important they neglected to learn who they were, who made them, what they were made of, and what was their purpose. Were they bowling pins just waiting to be knocked down?

This world might feel like a game. Players positioning themselves to their advantage, building on others to get to the top, playing by someone’s rules, or cheating to get the prize. It seems vitally important to discover who the Creator is of this life we find ourselves in. What does He say about all this? And is it really a game?

Long ago I began asking some basic questions…”who, what, when, where, why, and how?” Not only to figure out myself in this big amazing life experience, but also to learn of the Creator.

My college years were rich fodder for learning things the hard way, and being enlightened when there was literally no other place to look but up. Chemistry, then cultural anthropology studies, including the religions of man, gave me much to consider as I sought to find the truth of things. It was during that time I began to personally know the Creator, and to find this place is not a game after all, but a real life and death journey on to…more life, or a living death. With choices…to listen, learn, and grow…or, like children unwilling to mature, ignore the parental call to come home, choosing instead to keep playing the worldly game.

There seems to be an inherent thing in the souls of mankind, something that propels us forward. Like the earth spinning on its axis, we get caught up in the inertia of our own spinning selves, losing focus of where we are ultimately going. In all of history there has been but one perfect human being who sacrificed Himself for the lives of all mankind, living through this life, through death, and returning to witness to us the reality of life beyond here. In all the religions I studied, and historical accountings of true events, the man Jesus Christ of the Bible is the only one who has done this. Why would I not listen to the one who intimately knows the Creator of this place, and wants us to know Him? There was a sense of completion, a peace beyond this world, that came to my soul when I asked Jesus to teach me about this place. It was the singularly greatest thing that has impacted me…a life-long learning journey of trust and faith towards the next part of life’s journey.

Though my body is aging my spirit is vibrant and alive. Living on into eternity is a thrilling prospect, especially when living beyond into a life of health, joy, and peace rather than into the tragic throes of death. What’s the contest? Where’s the game? There is none…it is a real situation with real consequences. I’d much rather side with the Creator and learn His plan! I want to get out of here alive!

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Thank you, LORD, for the gift of life and our time on this earth. Please teach us to heed Your voice, and to grow fully into the persons You created us to be. Thank You that we are each unique, fashioned by Your design and purpose. With the freedom to choose that You have granted us through free will, give us the wisdom and understanding to choose life! In Jesus’ name, and for Your glory, Amen.

Hebrews 12:9 NKJV “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?”

Proverbs 8:33 “Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.”

Isaiah 45:22 “Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.”

Revelation 1:18 “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”