Words with Friends is my new obsession. I know, I’m late to the game. It’s been around for years. For the uninitiated, Words with Friends is a Scrabble application for your phone. The game has taught me a number of things – but above all humility. I definitely need to beef up my vocabulary. Even so, I question some of the words the app allows, and I know for a fact words I’ve attempted to play are valid even though WWF rejects them.
Though humiliating, the more I played, my opponents’ tactics became clearer and tutorial. I’m still losing, but the gap is narrowing as I become familiar with words you would never have an occasion to use in the course of daily life, along with strategies for optimizing the hand I’ve been dealt. A few months into a humbling streak of major defeats, my friend asked why I wasn’t using the word clues and other assistance WWF offers. They’re called powerups. First of all, I wasn’t aware of them, and secondly, “that’s cheating” I thought. No wonder my challengers were coming up with words I find it hard to believe are in anyone’s wheelhouse – except maybe James from Jeopardy fame.
When I began my faith journey, it was with the same naivete. Much like how I picked up strategies from my online opponents, the more time I spent with other believers, the more familiar I became with their winning approach to life. In direct contrast to any game in life, when it comes to Christianity, the only way to win is to lose. Complete surrender is the winning strategy. Christianity is definitely humbling but in the best possible way.
Surrender opens up our hearts and minds to the powerups God provides. Prior to surrendering, I knew they existed but my refusal to surrender blocked access to their influence. Once I chose to make that leap of faith, God’s powerups were activated in ways I never imagined. Insight – pointing to the next best move. Hindsight – revealing where I could have done better. Swaps – exchanging my pain for profit.
While surrender is the key to accessing divine powerups, in WWF you earn them either by performance or by watching endless advertising. My performance doesn’t earn anything but embarrassment, so I play the ads while doing mundane tasks. I never actually watch them but am mindful to avail myself of the maximum daily points to shore up my arsenal. However, it’s unreliable and malfunctions frequently, leaving me bankrupt and on my own.
The only way I know of to bolster my spiritual arsenal is choosing to spend time with Christ. It’s the way I start each day. In addition, the fellowship I enjoy studying the Word with Friends is like watching spiritual advertisements. As I observe how these Godly women approach life’s challenges, I witness Christ working on their behalf which equates to the powerup of encouragement.
The best thing about divine powerups is that they are limitless and reliable. That truth took a while to grasp. Similar to the way I save my WWF powerups for when I’m stuck, I used to be stingy in my spiritual calls for help because I didn’t want to waste them on ‘little’ problems. Now I know better and choose to rely on Christ in every situation. He will never leave you spiritually bankrupt or on your own. He promises to be with us always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
I may consider using powerups cheating in Words with Friends, but I’d be foolish not to employ them if my opponents are using them to their advantage. More importantly, my spiritual nemesis will use every devious ploy to challenge me. Therefore, I’d be even more foolish to ignore the powerups offered by Christ to help me navigate life. Trust me, His way is always the winning strategy and the wisest choice.