It is not always easy to know who is in the game of life with you. People you know betray trust and confidence and suddenly there are more people than you could possibly imagine in the dialogue and journey. Politicians that were enemies yesterday, and will probably be the same tomorrow, join up to fight a common cause. Adversaries fight their cause using guerilla-style tactics which usually translate into a brutal ends-justify-any-means approach.
As I examine the field of play between those close to us, I find tracks along the same pattern. It would seem that the need to win, obsessions with being right, and desires for power and control combine in a mysterious mix that is anything but mercy, compassion, and love. The two extremes cannot and will not mix. It is difficult to accept that they are the antithesis of each other. Yet in real terms, the come to grips in the morning and choose the values you will wear today reality that you and I face, the conundrum is very front and center. Which life will we choose to play? Are we in this game of life and death for ourselves? Is there more?
In our approach there are three considerations that are crucial.
First, know who is in close proximity to you. Players will change yet ignoring the adversary that is present is deadly. Remember, “the Devil’s come down on you with both feet; he’s had a great fall; He’s wild and raging with anger; he hasn’t much time and he knows it.” (Revelation 12.11, 12)
Second, choose your rules. I can guarantee that the choice will not be automatic for everyone involved, yet for the sake of your own life play by the rules you have chosen. Life itself is at stake.
Third, know what winning means. Is it the short-term result or something else? I do not see any results on earth that constitute winning; I see a process. If I choose to side with God, play intensely through compassion, love, and mercy, God’s victory is mine.
On your mark.
