Life, reality, everything we know is a game. It is as simple and as complex as that. Too often we don’t know what a game really is so we argue and debate the validity of the proposition. The trouble is that in the end each comes to the junction in the road where a choice must be made and the results of that choice lived with. It would be erroneous to conclude that life is merely a game or that the approach one takes to life is the same as one might to a game of cards or pick-up basketball. The implications of being a game are profound, extensive, and determine the quality of life we realize.
First, the game is played with rules. There is a framework, people have a role to play, and there is accountability for what happens when one adheres to the rules, potential to win, and breaks the rules, penalties and consequences. Life’s rules are set and have been set for some time. We are not allowed, do not have the power, and cannot even influence their change.
Second, there are direct links between our actions and the way others can and do play the game. We are not in this alone. In actual fact there are two teams which every player can join at their will. The final score is known to the active participants. Every player impacts the other, even if he or she doesn’t know of the touch.
In this context every move we make is critical. Each choice, action, decision touches our life as well as people around us and beyond. So “leaders can’t afford to make fools of themselves, gulping wine and swilling beer, lest, hung over, they don’t know right from wrong, and the people who depend on them are hurt.” (Proverbs 31.4, 5) We are in this regardless of our desire; life itself is at stake.
Being competitive is a sign that one is responding to what God offers to every player. It is also a warning that our futures rest in our choices.
