Monopoly

Last night, my wife and I watched a PBS program about the origins and history of the game of Monopoly.  In the early 60’s, me and my three brothers would play Monopoly for hours on end.  I was always the thimble game piece.  My brother Phillip was the banker and would count out the money to start the game.  We would go round and round the board and collect money each time we passed “Go”.  Community Chest and Chance were always exciting.  Everyone was happy when the “Assessment Card” came up early in the game before anyone had many houses and hotels.  Often, I would catch my brother Phillip on my property and hold him up for rent money.  I thought that I had broken his stranglehold of property and that he would have to sell back hotels for half price … until he pulled out a $500 from underneath the board that he had been hiding.  Rats!!  The player who was thrifty and wise did well, but those with bad luck and poor strategy struggled.  Eventually, one player gathered all of the property and amassed all of the money and ended as the winner.  But in the end, all of the money was collected and put into its place, all of the pieces were put away, the game board was folded, and everything was put back into the box.  And such is life.  We work and collect money and houses.  Some people win but some people are less fortunate.  But eventually, we all die and are put in a box and buried.  But then what?  The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”  So, are you ready for God’s judgement?  If you are trusting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, you can rest assured of your eternal future.  But if you are trusting in the best that you can do, you are in big trouble and don’t even know it.  Read John chapter 3 and prepare.  You may lose in the game of Monopoly, but don’t take a chance of losing your eternal soul.  Think It over.  Think it over carefully.