Spoofer

In the book Tales From the Midway, I talked about spoofers…the carny lingo for the elusive big prize that some carnival-goers chase after.  It spoofs the person into thinking that they’ll easily win, but they usually end up paying more for playing the game than they would have if they’d bought the prize in a store.  We were paid a third of what we brought in, minus the cost of stock (prizes), and the clever game operators knew how much they had to have each person pay to play, even if they were winning, to make a profit…they were good at talking the person into continuing laying down dollar after dollar.  I wasn’t that clever, just literally along for the ride, so my games weren’t huge money-makers for me or for the owners!
 
Life has its fair share of spoofers that we’re constantly hoping to win or achieve.  The mind might automatically jump to material goods, like a nice car or big house, but there are other elusive things that people chase after…things like attention, having to be right, or wanting things our own way.  My struggle often is with trusting God with finances.  He always proves faithful, and then I have the nerve to bring that worry up again?  Such a spoof….

There are two aspects of this spoofer pursuit…first, we need to stop chasing after non-eternal, empty things:  “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18).  Second, we need to focus on winning THE prize, the real, eternal prize–”I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).  Now THAT’S worth winning!