Spider Solitare

I was playing Spider Solitare tonight when I had a revelation. Maybe I need to do some "'splaining".

Spider Solitare is a computer based card game. Or to paraphrase a friend, "a device of Satan to divert your concentration from something important and cause you to waste time". It is an entertaining and addictive diversion.

We had a thunderstorm roll through, which means I unplug most of my electronic devices. However, I have Spider on a portable computer. I had played a game of it and lost, so I closed it. Later I turned the computer back on and started another game.

One of the more interesting features of Spider Solitare is the ability to restart a game, a "do-over" feature. I was playing it and thinking to myself, "this seems familiar". I then realized I was playing the last game over again.

I had lost the last game and thought to myself "This is great! I know what is coming and can adjust my strategy to fit!"

I still lost

I found myself making the same errors I made the first time I played. And then it hit me. This is kind of like how it is for God. He's setting there outside time, knowing what is going to happen, knowing the mistakes we are going to make.

The difference is I was making my decisions based on the circumstances I was in. Even though I had a choice, it was the same choice I had last time and I did the same thing over again. God has made a decision to allow us to make our own choices. We call it free-will.

What free-will means is we can make our own decisions. God allows us to do that. But he knows what we are going to choose even though that choice is entirely up to us.

My game of Spider Solitare is still on the computer. And I am still losing. But I can restart the game and do it all over again. You can do that with your life.

You can't restart from the beginning. Messes you have made are still going to be there and the consequences must be dealt with. But you can change what happens from this point forward. Unlike my computer game, the moves are not set out for you. You can choose which path to follow.

We have a church buzzword for that. We call it "Conversion". Or sometimes "Decision". What it means is you have decided that the path you are following is not the right one. You have decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You have decided to put God first in your life.

It's a big step, a life altering decision.

Which way will you choose?