Game of life!

What’s your favourite game?  I remember how our daughter used to love playing the “Game of Life” with her grandma just to see how many children she could collect!  The aim of the game is actually to collect as much money as you can, although in the old version of the game which grandma had, you did actually sell your kids at the end too so the aim of the game and her aims did overlap!  Not convinced about the ethics though.

Maybe you can remember a time when you got a new game but you were so keen to get started that you didn’t read all of the rules.  Oh, and the ones that you did read, you didn’t read properly.  Then as the game progresses you had to guess a bit as to what to do, until someone decided that they’d had enough of making things up and took a bit of time to read the rules properly and call everyone to order!   You then decide that the game that you’d just played was a good practice run and agree to start again doing it the right way this time.

Sadly, many folk go through life living according to a set of rules that other people have written for them, sometimes well meaning parents or teachers, sometimes by people who wish to control and manipulate them.  Many are so caught up with it all that they don’t stop and think about where it’s all heading.  What’s the purpose of this “game of life” which isn’t actually a game?

As we go through Matthew this week, we see Jesus sounding many alarms.  Flipping the game board over!  Challenging the rule setters with the “first shall be last and the last shall be first”, redefining the picture of what real life should look like, demystifying the complicated set of man-made add-on rules and making things simple and clear.

Game Changing News – Read all about it!

• It’s not about you, it’s all about Him!
• You can’t earn enough to buy a Kingdom pass!
• You have to give up everything to receive everything!
• Jesus has thrown open the invitation to anyone who truly receives it!

As we go through this week, I would encourage us all to ask God to show us…

- the things He is so very pleased with in our lives and give thanks and

- the things where some attention may be needed and ask for His help to change

… so our lives may more clearly display the rule of His love and the fulfilment and joy that brings.