NO MORE GAMES

I love to play games---since my earliest memories---"Red Rover", "London Bridge", "Hide and Seek", "Chase"---remembering the laughter and fun on the playground.  Then those wonderful teenage games---"Musical Chairs", "Tug of War", "Charades", and perhaps even "Spin The Bottle" a time or two.  Finally as an adult, card games galore, "Trivial Pursuit", "Word With Friends"---it has always been more about playing together than the competition for me.  Last summer above 10,000 feet we played a card game on top of a huge rock in the freezing wind and with damp clothes clinging to my body.  I cannot tell you the name of the game--I can tell you who I played with and how much fun it was.

We find ourselves playing emotional and psychological games with those around us, if we are not careful.  "I Got You", "One Up Manship", "Mine's Better Than Yours", "I'll Scratch Your Back If You Scratch Mine" and on and on.  Then there are the masks we wear as we play those games---masks to disguise who we really are, masks to pretend who we wish we were, all in an  effort to come out on the top of the heap.

I stopped playing those emotional games---I am who I am and while I hope you like me--I will not pretend to be someone I am not. What drives us to play games with each other?  The need for acceptance, our low self esteem, the psychological damage done over our lifetime---or some of all the above and more.  Who teaches us how to play these games?  Our kin, our friends, the world, or perhaps even Satan whispering in our ear leads us to a life of pretending and pretension.

God is NOT playing.  We do not have to chase Him, He wears no masks, there is no hiding from Him, and He does not have to guess---HE KNOWS WHO WE ARE.  He is stripped of pretense - an open book---no guessing games---He is who He is-The Great I AM.  Never fooled for a moment by the games we play--He is simply waiting for our cry---"YOU"RE IT!"

"Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:24