Lessons from a Computer Game?

Finally, I made it to level 9 in Bubbletown. For a long time I have not been able to get past level 7. Today I not only got past level 7, but level 8 as well. As I leave the game I am reminded of how our spiritual lives can be similar to that of a computer game.

Have you ever felt 'stuck' on a certain level spiritually? I know I have. There are two ways we can respond when we find ourselves in this position. The first is that we simply become satisfied that we have gone far enough. This is like saying that because I have completed level 2 of my game I have completed the game all the while denying the fact that there are 8 more levels to the game. The writer of 'Hebrews' addresses this response when he says,

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." (Heb. 5:12-14 ESV)

The writer's audience had become satisfied. They apparently didn't want to admit that there was another level. The writer tears away their smug contentedness by referring to them as immature children who fall far short of what they should be as teachers. We all need that challenge, not to be satisfied. This brings us to the second response.

The Apostle Paul helps us here when he describes his response this way,

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way." (Philippians 3:12-15a ESV)



Paul's response is to 'press on'. He says that pressing on has two parts. First we must forget what is behind. Whether it is a level of achievement or certain failures we must stop being preoccupied with them and look to the future. Then we must strain forward toward what is ahead. This approach doesn't leave us the option of being casual or nonchalant about our spiritual life. It requires both effort and intention. An athlete can intend to be great but without effort it will never happen. Without intention there is no need for effort.

Every endeavor has a level of 'press on' connected to it. At what level in our growing relationship with our Savior and Lord can we say we no longer need to 'press on'? Do we recognize the value of the prize, being everything that God intended us to be to be, as great enough to motivate us to keep 'pressing on'?

Which response are we choosing when our spiritual life seems stagnant; satisfaction or pressing on?Tomorrow, level 10!!