How The Game of Life is Best Played
One Sunday during church service, I kept glancing over at my three-year-old nephew. So, he always brings something to church to keep himself occupied, I’m accustomed to that. This time, though, he’d brought a Ziploc full of what looked like game or puzzle pieces to play with.
I watched as he placed the pieces on the pew, in a tambourine, and other areas, as if to try to get them to function as they were meant to. At one point, he tried getting them to stand up on their own, and of course, that didn’t work but that didn’t stop him from trying. Once he got tired of trying, he put the pieces back into the bag and returned it to his backpack.
Are your game pieces falling apart?
What was the problem?
Well, you see, he didn’t have the game board – the foundation that allowed the pieces to function properly. No matter what he did, those pieces wouldn’t do what they were meant to do without their foundation. They didn’t fit anywhere, and they wouldn’t stay upright.
Yep… here comes my point. So many times, we pick up the pieces of our lives and leave our foundation behind. We try so hard to make it on our own, but we cannot properly function without the One who created us to begin with. We try so hard to fit into places that we were never meant to thrive and we try standing on things that can’t hold our God-given weight.
So, What’s the Play Call?
I know it gets crazy sometimes and it seems easier to try doing things on your own. With each day-to-day circumstance, figuring things out instead of standing on God’s promises appears to be the more reliable solution. Well, it isn’t, and I know this from experience.
Here are a few things to take note of when your “game pieces” in the game of life don’t seem to be moving in your favor:
- We need a foundation to survive. I mean, what would happen to a house without a solid foundation? Any storm could overtake it. Without God, any storm can overtake us. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11 NLT
- It is impossible to move where we need to be without Christ. We’re not pawns, and life isn’t a game but just as a game piece cannot advance on its own, we cannot go forward without God. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” Acts 17:28
- Trust God’s moves, not your own. This life doesn’t come with instructions but if it did, I’m sure the booklet would tell us to put all our trust in Him. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 2:5
- Trust God’s timing. So often waiting can feel like a game of Monopoly but God’s timing is best. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1
Don’t get so caught up in this “game of life” that you forget the manufacturer. God will stand you up in places where you were knocked down. Only He can put your pieces where they belong. Don’t leave Him behind.
