I would like to share from a book I am re-reading for the fourth time, "When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box" by John Ortberg. This book is an excellent reminder of what we should be living for and is probably why I keep re-reading it. The author uses the analogy of playing monopoly to compare to how we live our lives. This particular excerpt is from Chapter six titled:
"Resign As Master Of The Board"
"It came to pass that the most powerful man in the world sat on a throne in Rome. This man literally ruled the known world. He ruled the rulers. He was the "king of kings." His government built statues of him to venerate. By the end of his life, people were worshiping him. Ever have that happen? Come in to work, go to your cubicle, have coworkers bow down: "Not worthy ... "
Caesar did. At one point he had a standing army of 500,000 soldiers- that took a lot of money. Caesar was a smart man, and we're told by an ancient historian that one day Caesar had an idea for how to pay his many soldiers: ''And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." Caesar at this time was around sixty years old. Perhaps no human being before or after ever held so much control over so much of the world so tightly for so long. "There went out a decree .... " He just lifted a finger, said a word, and the whole world scrambled to obey. Yes, Luke the historian says, watch what happens now. Now things start to get interesting. Author Tom Wright puts it like this: "This man, this king, this absolute monarch lifts his finger in Rome and 1500 miles away in an obscure province a poverty-stricken couple undertake a hazardous journey, at the whim of a king." Notice the result: a child is born in a little town that-oh, by the way-just happens to be the one mentioned in an ancient Hebrew prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. The ancient prophecy said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But Joseph and Mary didn't live in Bethlehem. They never would have gone there. Except - "it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus .... "
Why did it come to pass?
Caesar would have told you that it was because of him. Caesar made a call. Caesar was in control. But Luke raises a question: What king is at work here? Whose will is actually being done? Who is the real Master of the Board? This account is really the tale of two cities. Rome is the site of one kind of kingdom, peace, and glory. Bethlehem is a kingdom of another kind. Money, soldiers, palaces, titles, Boardwalk, and Park Place are all in Rome. Bethlehem was all stables and mangers and donkeys and shepherds. But the angels weren't singing in Rome. They were singing in Bethlehem. Caesar thought his throne in Rome was as secure as a throne could be. But the kingdom was lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Caesar has one palace left in the world. It's not in Rome but in Vegas, its glory is its glitter, and it's funded by control-deluded suckers who have yet to learn the one rule that odds makers got from John Calvin: in the long run, you can't beat the house. The baby in the manger is enthroned in hearts and lives and houses of worship on every continent in the world. How did that come to pass?
The Illusion of Control
One of the strongest of myths is the illusion of control. "I am in control" is not just a lie; author Ernest Becker called this the vital lie because we need it for our egos to survive. "We don't want to admit that we are fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not control our lives, that we always rely on something that transcends us." He says that man will use the power of money, or a string of sexual conquests, or relationships with important people, or a prestigious job, or his ability to learn, to make him feel that "he controls his life and death ... he is a somebody-not just a trembling accident germinated on a hothouse planet that [Thomas] Carlyle for all time called a 'hall of doom.' "
But we are not in control."
OK people- are you challenged? Feeling something?
Who wants to make New Years Resolutions with me now? Control much?
Feeling like lightening your grip on your life yet?
More excerpts to come.....
