Pinball Christianity – Getting Whacked Around By The Issues of Life
Pinball machines are entertaining. Few kids today can appreciate any game that doesn’t have superior graphics or super sports heroes. But I prefer the old school games such as pinball. As kids, we used to have such a good time trying to determine who could keep the pinball up on the board the longest and who could hit the most obstacles and score the most points.
[pullquote]God didn’t place you here in order to make you the devil’s punching bag. If we read through the bible we find out that we win. [/pullquote]
Sometimes life can make you feel like that little silver pinball being knocked around. It may feel like you’ve been knocked into every obstacle and trap that life has to offer. And when it looks like you’re just about to reach the hole at the bottom of the machine, where you will be able to take a break while some other silver ball gets knocked around for a while…WHACK! Out of nowhere a propeller knocks you back up to the top of the board for you to be knocked around by the circumstances life some more.
I’ve been knocked around plenty in life. I’ve been knocked around by divorce. I’ve been knocked around by finances. I’ve been knocked around in school. I’ve been knocked around on the job. I’ve been knocked around by sickness and disease. But fortunately, just as the greatest pinball wizards don’t have the ability to whack the pinball around forever, life cannot whack you around indefinitely. Your adversary, Satan can only whack you around for so long. He has limitations on him concerning what he can do to you just as he did in the Book of Job when he temporarily whacked Job around.
Think about this for a moment. What do you think your life, the lives of your family and friends, conditions on your job, and conditions in the world, in general, would be like without the presence of God in the earth? Knowing, seeing, and observing all the evil and unfair things that go on in the world today even with the presence of God here, I shudder to think what life would be like without the presence of the Holy Spirit in my individual life.
God didn’t place you here in order to make you the devil’s punching bag. If we read through the bible we find out that we win. Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4). The key to victory in life is knowledge. Knowing that in whatever way you may be getting knocked around right now, your situation is temporary.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
God can use for good life’s Pinball game for good
Take heart while going through the struggles of life. Use struggles as training instruments and opportunities to exercise your faith and trust in God. We know that we will reap the good things of God, if we don’t give up, cave in, and quit. We already know the outcome. The pinball player cannot keep the pinball on the board indefinitely.
Remain faithful. Keep your hope alive by continually feeding on God’s Word concerning your situation and before you know it, your pinball game will be over and you will emerge with a testimony to help those around you who are being whacked around by the pinball game of life.
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