Today I have the pleasure of sharing a piece from my friend Joshua Barella, Worship Director at our church, New Life Bible Fellowship. I know you’ll be blessed. ~John Beeson
I am not an avid gamer.
I've aspired to be at different intersections of my life, but I just don't have the knack. And so it goes for those who can throw the football nearly a hundred yards right out of the box, versus those who struggle even to catch the thing. Thus, the advent of practice, and training. There have been innumerable stories of nobodies becoming somebodies across history by putting in the effort, by showing up, working hard, day after day until the breakthrough. For this there is no substitution.
But the world of video games offers something wholly unique to its landscape: the backdoor.
If you can't cut it in the system--cheat it.
Nintendo games, Sega games, you name it, if there was a game with cheat codes, I would find them and I would pillage them. Mash some buttons in a particular order and gain invincibility or endless lives, and for a moment in time, you could play God. I remember when I purchased Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation, I put hours into this game and mastered as much as I could using the walkthrough booklet, but I still couldn't hold a candle to my friend; he'd defeated all of the "weapons (high-level bosses/monsters)" in the game and collected all of the "materia (the source of magical spells)," even the coveted Knights of Round materia, found on a hidden island, accessible only on the back of the illusive gold Chocobo (think an ostrich that you ride to travel places faster). The rub: he'd had the game half-as-long as I. One day I asked him his secret, and so he tells me. I cheat. I didn’t think it was possible on the game. Turns out there was a device called a "GameShark" that you could plug into the back of the PlayStation, replete with hundreds of cheats for just as many games across the platform, that, once plugged in, would rewrite the game's code during play. I couldn't resist, and so I got one, and sure enough, I achieved the unthinkable.
But there was only one problem: it wasn't real. It was counterfeit glory. I hadn't earned it. Not like those who'd come before me on their own merit. And so eventually I had to give up the game. I could live the lie no longer.
Within the bedrock of Christianity is embedded this timeless truth--you will suffer to be made new. There's no way around this. Jesus would have gladly taken an alternative to the cross, had the option been available, but it was not. Jesus knew that to defeat sin, he would have to become sin and endure the wrath of God in our stead. There's no bargaining with the sin indwelling in our hearts; no sweet lullaby to put it to rest once and for all--No! It must be taken captive and dealt with swiftly and with finality.
Paul's admonishment on the subject of sin is conclusive: "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death" (Rom. 6:21)!
This temptation to cheat has ever been a thorn in the process of my sanctification. Who wants to feel pain? Who wants to endure hardship? The fruits of this temptation are apparent throughout my life: addiction, anger, shame. There is no goodness in sin; no life. As Paul has said, sin is death.
So, I ask you to consider in your own life, where are you trying to circumvent the mote of your sanctification? Swimming it will be the only way to enlightenment and growth. If God has placed a giant before you, it is because he wishes to teach you something valuable in the slaying of it. You cannot hope to learn anything by searching for another way. Did not Jonah prove this by meeting his match in the belly of the whale?
There is only one way to freedom from sin eternal and that is through Christ. And Christ suffered for his crown. Alas, so shall we.
Seek the glory that the cross bestows upon its bearer and the Holy Spirit will provide you all the rest. That is my prayer for you.
From everlasting to everlasting, in Jesus’ name.
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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash