The Three-Hundred-Twenty-Third (Worldly Games)

This week we’re going to take a look at another aspect of how we live in the world but not of it. And no, we’re not talking about hunger games! We’re talking about what I colloquially call games, but you may have a different description once you know what they are.

This view that I came to occurred to me recently, as a couple of situations I was in caused me to recognize what was happening for what it was. I had previously been able to identify certain characteristics of these types of situations, and they helped clue me in to what was occurring “behind the scenes,” so to speak. However, for whatever reason, over the past week or two it dawned on me as to what this ability really means and how it relates to being a believer.

What I’m referring to is being in situations where hearing or seeing certain things help you to recognize if there are dark spiritual forces at work, or at a minimum, ulterior motives of the person you are talking to. Perhaps now you can start to see why I call them games. The common, underlying thread in these situations is that a certain result is trying to be achieved when the true circumstances do not naturally lead to that result.

To better understand that, it might help if we talk about some of the characteristics that are identifiable in these situations. One of those characteristics is when something is being put out there that is either completely disconnected from the truth or consists of a combination of truth(s) and lies. Another characteristic is when something is being put out that does not logically follow what precedes it, and one more characteristic is when what is being put out clearly contradicts something else that was put out, but whoever is putting it out either ignores the contradiction or creates reasons why the contradiction exists.

Let’s take a general example for the first characteristic. We know that we should always do the good and right thing, no matter what situation we’re in, and always tell the truth, no matter what situation we’re in, right? Well, if you’re in a situation where someone says you did a bad or the wrong thing, and you know for a fact that you did not, you know there’s something else going on.

You can either choose to play the game and go to whatever lengths necessary to prove your innocence, or you can choose not to. There are two things to consider in this decision though: 1) the person you would be playing the game with has already identified themselves as a liar, and 2) whatever situation you’re in when this happens is one with an environment that allows this type of thing to occur. So, you must ask yourself, do I want to remain in this environment, and if so, do I want to engage with someone that is ok with lying if it helps them achieve their objective?

For examples of all three characteristics, you need look no further than areas like politics, medicine, and religion. We all remember the mandates put out about six years ago and how contradictory those were. We all recognize that politicians don’t stick to their campaign promises, and use sly language with half-truths or language that suggests truth but does not actually have it.

Given the recent election, let’s anchor there for a moment. We’re talking about games, so ask yourself what is the game of politics? I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t actually involve the politicians. What is the whole idea surrounding politics? That we, the people, have the ability to choose our political leaders so that our nation is run according to our desires and our values.

When is the last time things were run the way you desired and according to your values? It’s been awhile, if it ever even has, hasn’t it? When is the last time a campaign promise was kept? A lot of people were hopeful about the current administration, but even it failed at keeping them.

So, if it’s not about the politicians and it’s not about running the country according to the will of the people, what is it about? Ever got into an argument with someone about red vs blue, or vice versa? Ever gotten upset because of how the country is being run, even with your candidate being elected? Ever been emotional, whether good or bad, about who got elected? The political game is about causing division among the people, and emotion in the people, while there is an agenda played out.

I try not to get into these types of things, so I won’t continue to talk about that, but I just wanted to get you to recognize that you can either decide to play the games in the world or decide not to. You can let politics influence your emotions and how you interact with other people, when both “sides” actually work for the same people anyway, or you don’t let it influence you at all. Other examples of games are what career you should choose or if you should go to college, or what religion you should join.

These are all things where you can decide to play the game, which means you play by the rules of the game, or you can decide not to play the game. The rules of religion, for example, is that once you claim one you are labeled as such and are expected to believe whatever that religion’s beliefs are. You might say, no, you can disagree on some of them, you’re not forced to believe, and you’re right, but why are you choosing to join that religion in the first place if you don’t agree 100% with what its beliefs are? You’re creating a contradiction there, because you’re identifying yourself with something that you don’t fully believe in. And I guarantee you, that as soon as you tell someone that’s your religion, they will immediately assume that you agree with every part of that religion and they won’t ask you to verify whether or not that’s true.

By now, you can probably recognize that being a true believer should naturally drive you to not play any of the worldly games. We’re not citizens of this world (Philippians 3:20), right? We should live in the world, not of it (John 17:14-16), right? Yet, I believe, that many believers still choose to play the games because they don’t recognize that they don’t have to.

The events of the world six years ago were the catalyst that started my journey of “opting out” of the world’s games. They helped me by causing me to question things, which led to researching things, which led to pulling myself and my family out of things. It’s gotten me to the point where there are things I ask myself and things I think about that make me wonder if I’m even all the way out or if there’s even more that I haven’t realized.

Do you know how much our thoughts and feelings impact our health? Yes, there’s a thing as dying of a broken heart; of a situation where you were hurt by such a loss that you could literally cause your own death from it. Have you heard of the placebo effect? It’s proven that people have gotten better simply by thinking they were taking something that was supposed to help them.

These are not made up things, so it makes me wonder if it’s possible that we could live a lot longer than we realize but we let things like “average life span” decide how long we live. In other words, we’re so bombarded by propaganda that living past 100 is rare that we all mentally cause our bodies to fail before then. Is it possible that we cause our bodies to feel sick during times like “flu season” because that’s what we’re told happens every year?

What does scripture say about this kind of stuff? About the games of the world and if we should play them?

Let’s start at the end of Yeshua’s ministry, when He’s being questioned by Pilate. Pilate asks Him a question that has always intrigued me: “What is truth?” (John 18:38). It’s a question that, over the past few years, many in the world have likely asked themselves without actually asking that specific question.

What Pilate was responding to was Yeshua’s statement that the reason He came into the world was to testify to the truth, and that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to Him (John 18:37). Those who heard, understood, and believed the truth were those that chose to follow Yeshua. Remember, the Hebrew word for listen includes not only listening but also obeying what is heard.

Those that didn’t understand what Yeshua was saying were confused by it, and many Christians today are confused by it as well. In Yeshua’s time as well as today, those that don’t understand are not open to the truth and willing to accept it. They only accept the games in the world because they think those are truth.

Many times, we reduce Yeshua’s ministry to simply a goal of freeing people from requirements and laws. That’s a very myopic view of what He preached about, and its narrowness is evidenced when you start trying to put together the various things He taught. Yes, He rebuked the religious leaders and their traditions upon traditions, but how does that also align with His other teaching on meekness, selflessness, and lack of worry?

Yeshua pointed out that the Pharisees and scribes broke YHWH’s Law by adhering to the traditions that contradicted it (Matthew 15:1-9, Mark 7:6-8). They were so blinded by the worldly game of religion that they couldn’t even understand or accept that in the tradition that they created as a “guardrail” against transgressing the Law, they created tradition that did just that: transgress the Law. These traditions were created by men they didn’t know and passed down over centuries, but because they identified as “Pharisees” and “scribes” they accepted them as theirs and couldn’t see the truth.

He also taught about not sitting in the place of most honor (Luke 14:8-11), that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), and not worrying (Matthew 6:25-34). These are certainly not teachings related to the oral tradition, so how do they fit with His supposed primary mission of releasing YHWH’s people from the Law? Obviously, by this point you know I don’t agree that was even part of His mission, but you can see what I’m getting at. His ministry was not a conglomeration of disjointed, random teachings.

He had a common theme throughout it all, and that was for YHWH’s people to be set apart from the world. Don’t choose to play its games. Don’t choose to follow its made up rules. In short: don’t choose to accept what’s not truth.

For religion, it was to not accept that man-made traditions defined how to serve YHWH. For status, it was to not accept that you have to “fake it ‘til you make it” by imposing yourself into a more prestigious position. For worrying, it was not to accept that the only way for you to have the food and clothes you need is by depending on how the world says you’re supposed to obtain them.

As you go through this week, ask yourself what games you’ve unknowingly chosen to play in your life. What games are you in right now, and what rules have you chosen to play by? Should we even be in those games? Is there a way to be in the game, but not play by its rules?

As believers, we should strive to be in a place where we can truly say that we’re in the world but not of it, and part of that is understanding what the world’s games are. I promise that you don’t have to play in them…and I promise that YHWH will take care of you if you don’t! You just have to follow Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).

We hope you have a great week! Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene

The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)