A typical six sided die has numbers 1 – 6 stamped, one number per side respectively.

Let’s play a game called GAME OF LIFE: A PERFECT “7”.  You win from the first shake and you can’t lose again.  You have one die which is provided and the game rules are very simple: 1. Shake the die.  2. Roll the die as many individual times as time allows.  3. The first time you get a “7” you are the irrefutable winner!  4.  You have the opportunity to have assistance that guarantees a “7 win” but first, you must admit you are lost without the assistant’s help since a 6 is the highest you can possibly make on your own.  5. Then you must rely wholly on the assistant to make up for what you were unable to do.

Upon starting to play, or even when you read the rules, you quickly realize…

…every time you try, you get between 1 and 6.  Thus you fall short of the winning “7” every time!  Being strong-willed you throw once, hoping for at least a 6 but fall short of the needed “7”  The reality sinks in: Every time you add opposite sides of the die, you always add up to the number 7.  Either you accept by admitting the obvious, which is you need help to win and need the free assistance provided; or you are always going to lose.

This game exemplifies the relationship between Jesus Christ and us.  Rate yourself on a scale of 1-6, with 1 being the worst and 6 being the best.  Normally self-evaluations makes you compare yourself to others, and the outcome is generally a self-rating of at least a 4 or 5. Only a rare few are hypocritical enough to rate themselves a 6 or even a “7”.  The hypocrite, or spiritually blind person who self-rated as a “7” may emphatically complain that the game is rigged or the die is defective because we always lose, regardless of our efforts.  She/he may feel too proud to admit that there’s no way to win this game.

Now, the rules say that to win, you need a “7”.  However, you only have one die to play with and the most you can roll is a “6”.  This presents a few striking realities.  The first reality is that no one, on his/her own, can reach “7” to win a perfect rating, since every single player falls short.  We too, in the GAME OF LIFE fall short; Romans 3:23 declares, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Secondly, our tendency to exhibit great hypocrisy (doing one thing personally but condemning the conduct in others), to rely on self-righteousness (I can make it on my own merit) and all of us still wanting to win the GAME OF LIFE sets up a problem.  We have the need to evaluate then act accordingly for one in the GAME OF LIFE to be a winner.

In Luke 18: 9-14 we read,  ⁹“Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.   ¹²I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’   ¹³And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’   ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Some people believe they are or should be found adequate by their own conduct since they can in fact point to many others who are worse than they are. However, Romans 3:23 says otherwise.  The atonement (being made right) comes, not from what we do or did, but by belief in Christ’s work for us.  Romans 3:24 declares the solution; “And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”.  All can win the GAME OF LIFE!  Check out John 3:16-18,  ^16”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.   ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  ¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”.

Jesus wants us to “win” the game of life so completely that he even provided for the one who is unsure whether he/she can “believe” enough!  A man with an ill son came to Jesus as recorded in Mark 9:23; and Jesus said to him, “If^£ you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”  ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”  The repentant seeker will always be cared for!

A famous statement often made is “It’s the throw of the dice” which will determine the outcome.  If you want to try to do it on your own, the “odds” are always against you and the outcome is never guaranteed.  Now is the time to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31), just the jailer in Philippi did when he was confronted with the choice of life!

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