Don't step left or right. Step forward.
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
In the 1983 hit movie, WarGames, a teenage hacker breaks into a NORAD computer system and starts playing what he thinks is a computer game, “Global Thermonuclear War.” Unfortunately for the world, the computer is attached to the whole US military and starts to deploy real military assets as it “plays the game.” Of course, the Soviet Union (remember those guys from 1983?) don’t know that a computer is playing a game and must respond to these provocations. Then the computer program responds. And so on. The characters in the movie can’t communicate with the computer because it has locked them out.
(SPOILER ALERT): At the end of the movie, the teenage hacker figures out a way to bypass the lockout and gets the computer to quit. The computer responds with the now-famous line: “A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?”
You might not realize it, but you’re in a bit of the same situation right now.
As you’re, I’m sure, aware, societal polarization is the greatest we’ve seen it since the 1860s. The world is increasingly demanding that everybody pick a side. “If you’re not with us on the left, you’re a Nazi!” “If you’re not with us on the right, you’re a psychotic communist!”
Everybody is demanding allegiance.
Pity the secular humanist that is confronted with this mess and must try to make sense of it without a Christian perspective. It seems like there is nowhere to stand that is reasonable or safe. You’re going to get yelled at from somebody.
Yes, I realize I just angered 100% of my readers because you all have a side that you have chosen that you think is reasonable and safe. That’s human nature. You think that your ideas, your politicians, and your solutions will save us. There may even be a bit of truth in that, insofar as there are better ideas, better politicians, and better human solutions.
But let me just submit to you that this left vs. right game is Satan’s game. Remember that he is the prince of the earth. He likes nothing more than conflict, anger, and humans taking their eyes off the ball and forgetting about the real game.
Where Satan presents the world to you as a question of right vs. left and humanistic “right” vs. “wrong,” God presents the world to you as a question of sinfulness vs holiness.
Note that both “right” and “left” are subsumed in sinfulness. You can’t get to holiness by moving to the left or the right. The only way to get to holiness is by moving forward, through Jesus. God doesn’t care where you stand within the right vs. left game. That’s Satan’s game. God is calling you to move forward, into holiness, his holiness.
When you’re having an argument with your neighbor or crazy family member, Satan is smiling. But God sees two people who are both sinful and in need of a savior.
As we move forward into the heart of election season, remember that there is really no way to win Satan’s game. If you try, you’ll just stay in that zone of sinfulness. As in WarGames, the only way to win is not to play. Remember that those neighbors and family members are all humans created in God’s image. They are sinners in need of a savior. And if you’ve already found Jesus, you need to tell them about what you’ve found. That will cause more change in society than winning a political argument ever will.
As always, this is not a call for you to disengage with the political process or to stop thinking deeply about candidates and positions and ultimately voting your conscience. Rather, it’s a call to recognize that no candidate, no policy, no human or human “wisdom” will ever save the world.
We have only one savior. His name is Jesus.
Today’s Prayer
Holy Father, maker of all things, we ask you to help us see the world through your eyes, with your perspective, so that we may understand the truth. Help us to view those around us not as friends and enemies but rather as saved and lost. Help us to focus our attention on the things that you value and prioritize as part of your Kingdom. Help us to step forward, out of Satan’s game of left vs. right, and into a knowledge that you are in control, that you have a plan, that your Kingdom will grow and grow until such time as you find and save all your lost sheep. Thank you for letting us participate in that process with you. Amen.
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I started my HS civics class with 2 ideas last Monday:
1) "all men are created equal" is utterly nonsensical absent "man made in the image of God"
2) God does not have a political party.
As Solzhenitsyn said, "the line between good and evil runs through every human heart."
A very timely reminder that those who disagree with us may favor evil policies but it's (usually) not out of evil intent.
Correct, the whole world seems to have lost its way. I really don't even feel like voting for either candidate, but people say we must vote or lose the country. We may lose it either way in my opinion. Being Christian, we must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to make things right, no man can do that.