Marble

It's been a while since we've done a bag message on Sunday morning. It's either been forgotten or the service has been different and we haven't had this part of the service. This week there was a clear marble in the bag.

As a kid I was past the marble generation. But one year either for Christmas or on a trip to Amish country (obviously it was really significant) I got a bag of marbles, and I thought they were awesome. There were so many different colors, and they came in an awesome leather bag. Over the next couple of years i began to collect them, and had a couple hundred. My favorite were these metallic looking ones.

I never really played an official game of marbles, but I learned how. There are two kinds of marbles, a large one called a shooter, and the small ones that as far as I know are just called marbles. In an official game of marbles you place the small ones inside of a circle on the ground and you use your shooter to try and knock your opponents marbles out of the circle. Who ever has the last marble in the circle wins.

As I stood there and help the marble in my hand I began to think about a game of marbles, and then about life. Life is sort of like a game of marbles. We're in the middle of this big circular object (I know the world is three dimensional, but go with it), and we are the marbles. Competing for us are God and Satan. But in this game, the marbles get to choose who knocks them out of the circle.

If a marble chooses God, then He takes His shooter, represented by Jesus, and shoots us out of the circle. Our sins are forgiven by us calling on Christ for salvation, and when we die we are taken by God. But if the marble refuses to let God take it, Satan gets it. It remains in the circle until the end, and then it is knocked out of the ring by Satan's shooter (not sure what to call this one).

Some people played marbles for keeps, you kept the ones you knocked out. In this game, all of the marbles initially belonged to God. We are all His children, but some of us refuse to accept that or acknowledge it. And because of this we allow Satan to take us in this game of eternal keeps.

God wants to take back all of His marbles, but He doesn't force them to come with Him. His offer of salvation is available to all, will you take it?

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you