Shortly after lunch yesterday while kayaking on the Colorado river, we returned to the beach to get back underway and ran into a group of people just arriving at our location. Carefully, I helped the two people with us launch safely as it was their first time in a kayak. As luck would have it, I managed to capsize my kayak for the very first time while these people watched us get underway. Unfortunately this was done in full view of the group on shore who considered it sufficiently comical to laugh at my misfortune. I hope they had a good time, because we ran into some heavy headwinds that wore me out the rest of the day, and it was all I could do to get myself home at the end of the day.
The world is full of people who seem to reap far differently from what they sow. We laugh at the misfortune of others, celebrate the struggles of our enemies, and draw attention to the mote in the eyes of others to distract attention from the beam in our own. We see wicked men prosper and good men vanquished, and so many of our brothers and sisters consequently join the throng at Babel in their riotous living so that we can have the certainty of our cake now. God's promises seem so far away, and His blessings don't come as quickly as we like if ever, and so it seems tempting to eat of the forbidden fruit and trust that we shall become as the gods anyway.
I know that there are many people who struggle to do what is right even without the promised harvest. We joke in my family about the family curse, because I have at least a dozen cousins and a sister who are unmarried, some of whom are accomplished and successful professionals. My dad's youngest sister didn't marry until she was 33 despite having her own house and multiple Master's Degrees. I know other good people who are struggling, and I know some good people who gave up and joined in with the throng of worldliness to partake of the perceived advantages of going with the flow. Yesterday on the river, my companions spoke of their indiscretions and youthful pursuits, and every single one of them got married, had children, and lives comfortably with a stable and successful vocation. It seems like he who has the gold really does make the rules.
The rest of us realize that we're playing according to rules for another world. The world in which we live really does reward men who give in to their base natures, encouraging us to eat, drink and be merry without apparent consequences. People are rewarded based on associations rather than accomplishments, on leverage rather than on literacy, on perniciousness rather than performance. What they may not realize is that this game promises them the world in exchange for their soul and then gives them nothing in return. Eventually, like Barbossa and his crew, they find that all the gold in the world and all the pleasurable company and all the finest of victuals cannot satisfy them and slake their lusts. They are attracted to piracy for its spoils without realizing that they will also be its victims. After all, the pirate's code declares: take all you can and give nothing back. It never promises to protect those who ply the practice!
Contrarily, living a good life has the best prospect. Although not a Christian, Roman Emporer Marcus Aurelius encouraged all men to live a good life. He pointed out that it is a win-win situation. If the gods reward lasciviousness, you do not want to serve them or be rewarded by them. If there are no gods, then you leave a legacy of goodness as an example for your progeny. If there is a righteous God, you will end up in His favor. People who follow the world's rules MUST be correct. If they are not correct, they have their reward. Christianity offers us the best hope. We can have better, be better, and live better. There is hope for a better world, for a better life than the one we currently live. It's also pretty simple. Treat everyone the way you would want them to treat your brothers and sisters.
My companions on the river seemed envious of the good relationships I have with my siblings. In many ways, my parents did a good job showing us how to relate with everyone on earth and taught us that we are all part of the Family of Man. Some of my siblings are also struggling, as are many of my cousins. We continue to abide by the rules of another world. We realize that we may be average when we get there, but we're living for something better than a marshmallow in the moment.
We do not decide how the rules are applied or when. We don't get to pick who wins, even if that means nobody does. We need to remember that sometimes the winner is only decided at the end, when we count up all the totals and compare to the standard. What happens during a game of Monopoly is irrelevant. Money exchanges hands, people end up in jail, and the face of the landscape changes. The winner is decided at the end. It isn't done in the moment just because you accomplished something. We made it to the dock on time. We made it safely. I'm not saying that the other people on the river won't, but what they do along the way determines when they arrive and in what manner they arrive. You can play by the rules of the world and party along the way and live it up, or you can play according to God's rules and really live and live forever. The best thing about His plan is that even if you, like I did, swamp your boat along the way, even when you make mistakes, your mistakes do not have to make you. You can get back in and keep going because of Christ's mercy and sacrifice. It really is the best prospectus.
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