It Is Never Over

The Special Ops commando stealthily entered the target building. With great skill, he took down enemy fighters one after another with his silencer-equipped gun. One surprised him at a corner, though, and returned fire. The enemy’s aim was lethal. The Special Ops commando fell lifeless to the ground.

And then he stands up, chooses a different set of weapons, and starts over on his assault of the target building.

Whoa! Time out. Rewind.

The dead commando comes back to life and starts over?

Forgive me for conveniently forgetting to tell you. I was describing a character in a video game. I watched a youth playing the game because I was curious what kept players glued to the screen for hours, even days, practically forgetting there is a real world around them that they live in.

I have very rarely played video games so I can’t say my opinion is dead on expert. But there seems to be two reasons they are able to captivate their fans.

First, the challenge video games present. The player always starts seeking to win by achieving the goal set by the game. Often, there are several levels the player has to reach, with greater and greater challenge and degrees of difficulty at each level. There is an anticipated sense of fulfillment that seems to grow while the goal is being pursued.

There is something to be said about challenge, though. Challenge needs to remain interesting, difficult but surmountable, in order to keep the fan playing. When the challenge is not enough, the player abandons the game as boring. When the challenge is impossible, the player leaves the game either with a sense of betrayal or surrender. Either way, the game is dropped.

The second reason, then, for the holding power of video games has to do with second chances. I have yet to see a video game where the character the gamer is playing cannot be brought back into play and start over after being knocked out of commission. This way, the player gets the “hang” of the game, gains more skills and progressively increases his chances of winning.

In video games, I call this the “resurrection option.” It is unlimited second chances available to the gamer. Of course, when one is forever able to start over, the challenge of the game remains fresh, play continues on and on and on.

In real life, I call that hope. Sure, you say. What hope is there in reality when an assassin cuts you down and you die? Nobody gets up a second time from that and starts over.

Nobody? Think again:

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11)

Now I would agree that, to begin with, we have already been cut down by the ultimate assassin. We are already dead in sin. We may look alive, walking and breathing in the flesh. But we are spiritually dead. Get this fleshly life taken from you and what do you have left? Game over. No starting over.

Fortunately, we have a Savior. We have Someone who gives us the resurrection option. We have Jesus Christ:

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Oh, yes, dying in this world does not have to mean “game over.” With Jesus Christ as our Savior, the flesh may cease to live but our spirit lives forever:

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

We may be walking zombies but we are made alive again in Jesus Christ:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)

What better hope can there be when one can possess the resurrection option? God is said to be the God of second chances. We can start over if we fall. We can press onward relentlessly towards the goal. Disaster, tragedy, even death cannot hold us back:

When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge. (Proverbs 14:32)

With this hope, we open ourselves to blessings from God. Hope leads to faith. Faith pleases God:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Is your hope in Jesus Christ? Is your confidence based on the sure promise of everlasting life freely offered by God’s Son? Do you want to cross over from death to life? Do you want to be able to continue moving onward regardless of what life, or death, throws at you?

If so, pray this simple prayer with me:

Dear Jesus, forgive me of my sins and come into my heart. I trust you today, Jesus, to give me everlasting life. I trust you to take me to Heaven when I die. Be the God of my life from now and forever. Thank you for saving me! Amen.

Want to know more about your new found hope? Find the “How Well Do You Know God?” button on the sidebar of this website, just above the animated David and Goliath. Follow where the button takes you.

Welcome to God’s family!

God bless you.