I love playing table games. Card games, dice games, board games. Among my earliest family memories were the times when, as kids, we sat around the card table for hours playing Yahtzee … or Rook … or Clue.
One of my faves was The Game of LIFE. We didn’t play it often—it was saved for New Years Day or some other special holiday. We’d open the box and … voila!! There it was! Our whole future laid out on a 20” x 20” game board.
How exciting! We each got a little car to drive, and we filled it up with our “family” of pink and blue peg-people. (Mind you, this was the original 1960 version.) We got tons of money to spend, and we could make all kinds of choices about our future. Should we do the short route, going straight to work and earning money right away? Or take an academic detour to college in hopes of landing a big-time high-paying career?
So FUN! LIFE was so full of possibilities and high hopes!
But there were rules. Everyone had to begin on the “START” space. We had to obey the spinner—whatever it said, THAT was it. Where you landed, that’s what you got. One turn at a time. This wasn’t Candyland—all gumdrops and lollipops—it was LIFE. Not Chutes and Ladders, either—nobody got to skip to The End and live out the rest of the game on Easy Street. We all had to go through the twists and turns, the benefits, penalties and disasters of LIFE. (In the END, we usually weren’t nearly as well off as we had hoped for at the START.)
The “game” of LIFE. No kidding. Now we play it every day, and, ironically, the real thing resembles the board game in a lot of ways. Every day we live is a space along the path of LIFE, twisting and winding through tough real-life decisions and unexpected outcomes, through triumphs and tragedies. In sickness and health, richer and poorer, better and worse. We may choose different routes along the way, but ultimately, the path of LIFE leads all of us along, one space at a time, to one destination—the “Day of Reckoning.”
However, for the BELIEVER, it’s a total game changer! When we turn our lives over to JESUS, our old-version LIFE becomes the improved, revised, upgraded version—the NEW LIFE! Instead of relying on pure spin-of-the-wheel chance, we rely on GOD:
- HE orders our steps. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; … In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV)
- HE leads and guides us. “The LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 NKJV)
- HE continually tracks our progress. “He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10 KJV)
But even while He leads us “in the paths of righteousness,” we sometimes find ourselves in trouble. What should be our response?
- “YEA, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.” (Psalm 23:4 KJV)
- “YEA, though …” bad things happen along the way, it does NOT mean that we are on the WRONG path. Regardless of the perils, WE KNOW that we’re on the RIGHT path—if we’re following Jesus. He IS the Way.
- “YEA, though …” LIFE gets more and more difficult, it’s not as much fun anymore, and it seems like we’ll NEVER learn this game—yet Jesus never leaves our side. When your prayers turn from fervent worship to frantic “WHAT DO I DO??!” … it’s then “Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21 AMP)
Ultimately, what matters MOST is the LAST space—the DESTINATION. In spite of all the curves and swerves of LIFE, GOD has not changed—and our GOAL has not changed. Jesus whispers, “It’s ALL a part of The PLAN. Just stay on the path.”
Why? Because, if we’re faithful to the END, then the last space in THIS game of LIFE is ASSURED! The path ends at the foot of the THRONE of JESUS! Nothing here changes THAT. The “Day of Reckoning” will be the Day of Welcoming, and our eternal “Millionaire Acres” will be more GLORIOUS than we ever imagined!
Prayer: Dear Jesus, what does it matter how many more spins—how many more difficult spaces it takes to get there, as long as we GET THERE?! Lord, grant us Your sufficient grace to complete this journey, for when we do, we’ll surely shout with ONE MIGHTY VOICE … “The GAME is OVER! WE WIN!!”
