Thursday, December 19, 2013

Chris Reveals His Secret



Ok, it’s time to come out publicly and admit my secret…

I play Candy Crush Saga. I’m not addicted, like some folks I know. I can stop at any time. I don’t spend hours every day…five lives at a time…but I do enjoy an occasional game or two (or 10).

Wait, did I say enjoy?

It begins so deceptively. Just line up three candies of the same color. But by the time they’ve sucked you in they’ve add striped candies, wrapped candies and color bomb candies. I hear there are rainbow candies coming.

But that’s not all. Then they add bombs, licorice, chocolate (who’d have ever thought I’d hate chocolate), chocolate factories, bubble wrap…the list goes on and on. Now I’m dealing with stupid Easter eggs. Are they good? Are they bad? You’ll never know until they go off and mess up whatever you’re trying to accomplish.

Some levels are easy. First time through and BAM! Then there are the stupid, next-to-impossible levels that can take weeks to pass (yes…I’ve been there). When I was in Honduras, my friend Sami (Hi Sami!) finally gave up on level 98 and handed her phone to me to pass it for her. (As a side note, have you noticed how some people want help and other people…say, our wives…want us to stay as far away from their game as possible…even when you could actually help…and maybe they get mad when you ask what level they are on because they know you are so far beyond them when you play far less than they do…not to mention any names!)

Usually it takes me a couple of tries to get the “trick” to passing the level. I will admit that one time I played a level for a couple of days, trying (without any luck) to pass, before I realized I had misread the goal and was making it much harder than it was supposed to be. Duh!?!?

You probably saw this coming, but the Candy Crush Saga has many similarities to our spiritual journey (though obviously not even in the same galaxy of importance).

On every level of our spiritual journey we face the good and the not-so-good. On every level God has a lesson for us that will deepen our character and draw us toward Him.

Some levels are pretty easy. Other levels take time and strategy and perseverance. Sometimes we need help getting from one level to the next. Regardless, you can’t move from level 3 to level 20, except going through 4, 5, 6, 7…

God never graduates you to the next level until you’ve passed the one you’re on…ever.

Your character is too important.

1 Peter 1:7 says, Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”

I don’t know if there’s ever really an end to Candy Crush Saga (other than me just moving on to the next “greatest” game), but there is an end to this life. I want my life to display the evidence of His victory. I want my character to reflect the majesty of my Savior.

Do you?