Central Abbotsford

This week, the Heath family is participating in our annual tradition of spending a day in Lynden for the Northwest Washington Fair. Thankfully, our kids are of ages now where they can either look after another on the rides, or enjoy them together, which means that I no longer have to endure the Tilt-A-Whirl, the Gravitron, or any of the other rides that can be packed up into the back of a truck to move to the next county fair. I am free to enjoy french fries and ice cream, and watch the kids on the rides from a safe distance. Of course, beyond the food and rides, there is one more aspect of the fair experience: the carnival games.

Like most summer fairs of this type, the NW Washington Fair will have a midway – two rows of tents equipped with various flashing lights, sirens, and other attention-grabbers housing a dozen or so skill- and strength-testing challenges (and some that are effectively gambling for children). They, of course, all look fun and easy – what kid wouldn’t want to throw a dart at a wall full of balloons? How hard could it be to throw a basketball through a hoop with three tries? There’s no question that anyone who plays is going to walk away with the finest stuffed animal that could be purchased for $1.50 elsewhere!

Of course, if you are cynical (or just realistic), your mind immediately goes to one thought – “these games are all rigged.” If you don’t believe me, just Google “are carnival games rigged” and you will find not only people debating the question online, but scores of articles from established news outlets (most of which are published in Julys and Augusts of years gone by) investigating the same question. And, while your definition of “rigged” may vary, the conclusion that most of these stories reach is the same: at minimum, the games are organized in such a way that they are deceptively hard to win.

Do you feel the same way about the Christian life? You know that God has given rules and commandments for your flourishing and the flourishing of humanity generally, and yet you can’t help but feel that the game is rigged. You feel weighed down by a verse like Romans 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – and wonder why even bother? Will I ever win the game? 

Brothers and sisters, if you are tempted to feel this way, remember to define the rules of the game the way that Scripture does. We will not achieve moral perfection in a fallen world; the only One that could do so was the very Architect of the game (the world) Himself – Jesus Christ. 

Paul uses the metaphor of competition in his writing in a couple of different places. In 2 Timothy 4:7, he writes, at the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Yet in 1 Corinthians 9:24, he writes: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” Again, this might seem like the game is rigged – can only one person really win the race? Can only one person beat the game?

What Paul is saying here is that each believer is given their own race to run, and that each will have its own unique challenges and obstacles. This is why we also get the encouragement in Hebrews 12:1 which tells us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Few people need encouragement to endure a pleasure cruise. A call to endurance implies the existence of trials, challenges, and obstacles to avoid. 

So, if this life does not offer the assurance of peace and prosperity, to where, or to Whom, can we look? Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us. “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” In other words, the game is not rigged – it has already been beaten! The victory was hard-fought and not without a cost; indeed, the greatest cost of all.

Brothers and sisters, it is this that we are to consider as we face the trials of this life – the times that it seems like the game is rigged against us. For our present race is preparing for us a weight of glory beyond all comparison – so, as you run – as you play the game, look to Jesus, the One who invites us to partake in His eternal joy.