Free to Play!
If I could,
…I would play games all day long, every day of the week. This was the dream that many of us had when we were kids. It was something we wondered if it would be possible when we grew up. Oh, if only we could play and have the sense of play every moment of our lives.
But on our path to adulthood, play became a childish endeavour. Work became the priority of our existence. If you work hard, you might get to play a bit.
For some lucky ones, work provides some satisfaction and is even playful. Yet, for many, work is a necessary evil for survival and a price to pay for a drop of freedom. Our work, grades, and what we produce became the source of our hope. If we can achieve more, we might get to enjoy life more.
Do you feel stuck in this work vs freedom cycle? Do you want more from life than just the weekends?
The Bible actually provides us with an answer as to why we feel this way and why our work, play, and life may feel hopeless and futile.
In the beginning,
…when God created the world and all that is in it, God saw it was good. And when he made the man and the woman, He says it was very good! It was very good because human beings have a purpose and fulfillment. We were created not just to do work but to have a human existence that is satisfying and joyous along with our Creator. Work and play are part of how God designed us, and both are important to a good life–a freed life.
But humanity shattered that good life when we brought sin into this world. All of our history was tainted by its corruption. Pride, jealousy, murder, deceit, and lust darkened our hearts and our minds, and none of us can escape them. The Bible tells us, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23). This ‘standard’ is a life that loves God and loves people. It’s a ‘standard’ that is the opposite of the sins we have in us.
We can see the impact of our sins on this world in our work and our play. Our work became hard and, oftentimes, unsatisfying. Some resort to overworking in the hopes of finding a purpose in life–an identity in their jobs–and end up regretting their priority of work over their relationships with families and others. Some experience unfairness and injustice in their work as their employer takes advantage of them. On the other end of the spectrum, others gave up on being productive completely and escaped into other addictions. It is the same with play. What was good for human beings to enjoy and partake in was diminished and discarded. Work and career became more valuable than playing a game and kicking the ball around. Or, for others, play became an addiction as they escaped reality through games and other means.
Overworked or overplayed–we could not find a balance. And the result of sins? It is death. Death is the punishment for our self-centeredness, the dark motives and thoughts, and the wrongs we’ve done to our Creator and others. Destruction is a fair consequence for a creation gone rogue. Like a factory producing goods, when a product fails the QA test, it is tossed away and burned. In our case, God didn’t make a failed product, but he made us creatures with choices–free will. We were given a choice, but we chose to go our own way and stray from what God knows is good for us.
We deserve the judgment of our sins, but God is not like us. He does not abandon us, his creation. Rather than tossing us away, He chooses to redeem us by paying an unimaginable price. The whole Bible tells us of God’s great love for us in spite of how we treated Him and our contempt for Him. Ephesians 1:7 says, “[God] is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” And Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” This redemption came in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the son of God and God himself, and he came to earth to show us how much he loves us, even willing to die for us, so we can be redeemed. Instead of us paying for our sins, Jesus paid it all with his death. He died for you and me so we can be made right and be right with God. But death could not hold him; Death does not have victory over Him. Jesus resurrected and came back to life after three days to show the world He is the ultimate victor over everything and anything. He proves he is the one who can save us.
He can save us from a life of overworking or overplaying. He can save us from our shame and our sins. He can save us from ourselves if we put our faith and trust in him. The Bible tells us, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
-2 Corinthians 3:17
The Choice is yours,
… and today, we still have that choice because Jesus is alive and is waiting for you to put your trust in Him, for you to seek Him for forgiveness and turn your life back to the creator God who loves us and has the best plan for us.
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.“
(1 John 1:19)
A life that knows satisfaction and joy in work and play, seven days a week, is a life that is freed and redeemed from sins. It is a life liberated from the slavery of sins, addictions and self-deceit. Would you like to know what your life could be like with such freedom? To work well and play well? Put your trust in Jesus and follow Him, and you will experience a life, now and in eternity, of fullness, contentment, and unending grace and mercy.