The Game of Life
By Rev. Ellsworth E. McIntyre
The games that children play on the elementary school playground are sometimes called "the hidden curriculum," because children's games teach lessons as surely as the sober, boring exercises in math and letters endured inside the classroom. One of my favorite childhood games was dodgeball. The rules varied but briefly put, the class crowded against the back wall of the school building. The person "up" threw the ball into the milling, stumbling crowd. Anyone hit by the ball was eliminated. Eventually, the winner remained alone, the only one not hit by the ball.
Dodge ball was very popular. The athletically challenged students preferred the game more than the usual games such as baseball or touch football. One of my friends put it this way, "We like dodgeball, because the winner is not always the same." In other words, the most athletic had less advantage in a game tilted toward luck or chance. The winners of dodge ball included some lucky nerds.
Life itself seems better portrayed by such a game. Success in life seems to the human mind, limited by observation, to be like a game of chance. Money, rank, and advancement seems to be ruled by factors beyond our view. How often does the classmate voted "most likely to succeed" actually best all rivals? We have all seen the star athlete or star scholar reduced to a whining drunk complaining, "I could have made it except for rotten luck. I could have been a contender." Prison is full of failures who once held promise in their great youth. Their cry is the whining excuse of all losers, 'I was framed..." Something or someone else is always to blame in their eyes.
The word of God sternly rejects all those who refuse to say in their heart of hearts, "I am the problem; the fault is my own." Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. put it this way, "the trouble no doubt is with you." Final judgment comes surely for us all. On that day, we will know, "Promotion cometh neither from east nor from the west nor from the south, but the Lord setteth up one and putteth down another (Psalm 75:6). Life is not a chaotic game of chance like dodgeball, but a mathematical certainty based on the sovereignty of God known to us as the moral law. The winner at the final judgment will have lived his life according to God's law. The winning player in the game of life will refuse to live and believe that the events of life are guided by luck. Instead, the winner knows that all things work together for the good of the Lord's chosen (Rom. 8:28).
The winner will refuse to hate those gifted with physical beauty, athletic coordination or mental prowess. The fire of envy or covetousness will be dampened by the water of faith. The winner like Joseph will rise to judge his brothers with the triumphant statement, "You meant it for harm but the Lord meant it for good." (Ref) The path of victory can be seen by the lamp of the word of God (ref).
I am now 64 years into my life and as I look back over what seemed to be a meaningless jumble of circumstances, I see a straight path marked by the commandments. I have won and lost according to how closely I followed the love of God, which is the keeping of the law and judging my obedience to be a joy instead of a burden (see I Jn. 5:1,2) When I followed affection, emotion or romantic love, I failed. When I followed the moral law in spite of my reason colored by love, I won. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." "By the fear of God, men depart from defeat or evil (ref). The ones left standing after this life of dodge ball will be those who reject emotional love for fearful covenant keeping.
