Pastor's Blog
Get in the game Posted 1.10.2010
Games mimic life.
Over the Christmas holiday, we had a chance to play some games as a family. Now, I’m not a fan of games (I really do not enjoy losing….like you do?). Anyway, we played this game that nobody knew how to spell. It was “Mao” or “Mau” or “Mou” or whatever. Anyway, I will never play a game again cannot clearly be spelled.
So we start off playing. I guess you aren’t suppose to talk while playing, because every time I said anything, I got a new card in my hand. So there was no way to empty my hand of cards because I could not rid my tongue of questions.
Ok, time to start Round Two. There was no refreshing of rules. No bonus explanations of what the fat were doing. We just started again. Argh. Once again, fresh cards from the pile were added quite regularly to my hand. But hey, at least not as many as my poor wife. She was awash in cards as one of the kids played their last card.
By the time we got to Round Three, I was beginning to catch on. Not completely, mind you. Just sort of. But I won Round Three. The newbie won a round. Amazing. The children were baffled and forced at this point to share the “rules” of the game. As the leader of the next round, I had a special task to perform. So the gig was up. I had to be let in on the dark secret. And let me tell you, it wasn’t very satisfying.
I really hate to ruin the game for you (but it is not much of a letdown I promise) but I’m not sure I’d recommend you play this “whatever the name is” game anyway. The point? Games imitate life.
Do you ever feel like if you just knew what you were suppose to do, you would do it and God would be happy with you? Then you’ll love this game. The rules change. New rules appear – but you never know what they are until you are slapped with that extra card. Sometimes two cards, by the way, which I never did figure out why.
Sometimes we feel like we just need some explicit directions for life. Just tell us what to do, where to go, what to say. And hey, we’ll do it, go there, and say it. We picture God as setting the rules of the game, but the rules are always in flux. New ones appear out of nowhere and you never get the upper hand. Welcome to Mau or Mao or Mou. Whatever!
The Christian life is not a series of random rules we must discover. We can know them. Ahead of time. Just look into the Bible and see if it is reflected in your thoughts, motives, and actions. God isn’t hiding anything, even though it sometimes feels that way. Get in the game. Life, not Mau. Or Mao. Or Mou. Whatever.
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