It’s the championship game, and the last game of your career. You have been on and off the field, focused on playing hard to win the most important game of your life.
Then, all of a sudden you hear the whistle blow. You look up at the clock. There is no more time left. The game is over. You weren't expecting the whistle to blow so soon, and you now have to deal with whether you won or lost. You are either excited because you won or heartbroken because you lost. Either way, whether you win or lose, it’s “GAME OVER.”
There is no replay, no redo, and no extension. The rules state that when the time runs out, then the game is over. There is no more time left to do anything on the field. Nothing about the game you just played can ever be changed because you don’t have any time left to change it.
You may wish all you want to be able to go back and change how you played the game, but you can’t. You can’t go back and re-shoot a shot, or replay a down, or call a different play. Time has run out, and it’s over. Once it’s over it’s over. It’s history now. It’s final. And the winners are the ones in the real record books.
Time is our limiter
Time does that to us. Our time on Earth is limited, and we can get so caught up in playing the game of life that, before we know it, the time God has allowed us to play just runs out. Death leaves us with no more life-time left on the field of play, and therefore there is no more opportunity left to change the outcome.
Even if you are blessed enough to be like King Hezekiah, as recorded in II Kings 20:1-11, where God answered his prayer and extended his life another 15 years, it was just for 15 years. He eventually died, as this is a law concerning this earthly body which God has cursed with death because of sin.
Hebrews 9:27 states, “And as it is appointed (decreed by God to come to pass) for men to die once, but after this the judgment,...”
The end of the game is reckoning time
Just as there is a time limit on a sports game, with a reckoning at the end of the game as to who has won and who has lost, so there is a reckoning at the end of our lives. When it’s over, it’s over! That is a certainty! God will not allow a replay, or a redo. You can’t go back and change the way you lived.
Just as you will have to answer at the end of the game how you individually played the game, whether you are a winner or not, so what you have done and said in this life has to be answered for.
You can only change the time you are currently living in. You are either living according to what God wrote about you in your book, or you are not. Now is the only time you have available to be able to change things if the outcome of your game is not looking favorable.
Once this life on Earth is over, we cross over into forever
After this temporary life on Earth is over, it is eternity forever, never to be changed. You will either with God or without Him. The plays you choose to run now with will determine your score at the end.
The apostle Paul admonishes us, in Ephesians 5:16, to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Also in Colossians 4:5, he admonishes us to “walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
The Greek word for “redeeming” implies to buy up, to ransom, to rescue from loss. Meaning we are to take full advantage of the little bit of time we have here on Earth, to make good use of it, so that when our game is over, and the buzzer has sounded, our score will be in our favor.
The game of life is for keeps
Have you evaluated your game lately? The life we live has serious consequences. It’s not like a sports game or a video game, where you get another chance to play another game. Do you play to win and please the Lord, or did you just play to please yourself?
As you played today, did you give out the fragrance of Christ, or the stench of the devil? At the end of your game of life, God is not concerned how long you were in the game; how long you stayed on the court or field. He has allotted most of humanity between 70-80 years, and some don’t get there and some live beyond that.
It is how you played the game that He is concerned with. Was it a life of loyalty and faithfulness to Him? Was it a life of love and grace towards others? Was it a life of holiness and truthfulness? Was it a life of obedience? How would God describe your life so far?
God has given us just only so many minutes to play our game of life here on Earth, but there is no time limit in eternity. We will be playing our last game forever in eternity, either with our God in the blessedness of Heaven, or with the devil in the agony of the lake of fire.
Take a time out now while you can
Maybe you need to take time out and evaluate your playing. How is your score looking? If you need to, take the time now to make some corrections as to how you are playing your game, because once your game of life is over it is final. Time outs are only good during the game.
Exactly whose game plan are you following? Whose playbook are you pulling your plays from? Is it the devil’s “loser” playbook, or is it God’s “winner” playbook?
Maybe you need to spend more time in God’s playbook and spend more time in the real Coach’s presence. Maybe you need to listen to your true Coach while you are on the court/field so that you play to win.
God has not created you to lose. He made you a winner. He has given you the right playbook and a Helper to be with you to carry out the plays. It is up to you whether you listen to the Holy Spirit and obey the Word of God as to whether you win or lose, because, when your time runs and the whistle blows, and it’s “GAME OVER.”
When your game of life is over, will you be in the record book of Heaven, the Lamb’s Book of life, as a winner? Or will you name not be there at all?
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