Game of Mao: The need for rules

THE benefit of rules Playing a confusing game called Mao

By Scott Riggan

At a party a few years ago, I got roped into playing a bizarre card game called “Mao”. There are a lot of rules to this game, but the first rule is that, if you’ve never played before, no one can tell you the rules. You observe the game being played, and when it’s your turn, you try to guess how you should play your cards. If you guess right, that’s great. If not, you get penalized.

Eventually you figure out, for example, that anytime a spade is played you have to say aloud “Queen of Spades” or “Five of Spades”, or that when an ace is played the next player is skipped. And anytime you mess up, the dealer penalizes you by giving you a card and telling you something like “you failed to clap three times after playing a red card…” This is how you learn what the rules are. I’m not making this up, I promise.

It’s a game with crazy rules that you have to figure out and then remember – and with each hand there are new unspoken rules that you have to also somehow guess. Sound fun to you?

Imagine what it would be like if life were “played” like a game of Mao. You’d know there’s a set of rules, but you’d have to try to figure them out as you go. Sometimes your guesses would be correct, sometimes not. Either way you’d have to face the consequences – because, after all, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

A game like Mao reinforces, in my mind, how we benefit from clear rules. When we have boundaries, we don’t have to wonder or guess – we know how the game is played. If I know, for example, that it’s against the law to walk out of the convenience store without paying for the Snickers in my pocket, I don’t have a dilemma – I know stealing is wrong.

In Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul declares that, through Christ, “We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

Does this mean the law has no value to us? Paul continues: “I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet’.” (Romans 7:7)

So there’s no denying that “law” has value. It defines what pleases and displeases God. But in Christ, I am under grace, not law; my standing with God doesn’t hinge on my ability to stay within the lines.

So I think what it comes down to is this: • Under the law, we were required to meticulously obey the rules, and offer sacrifices to “pay” for inevitable failures. • Under “the new way of the Spirit” our desire is to please God and, as a result, we want our lives to delight Him.

I won’t steal that Snickers. Not because the law restricts me, but because stealing and coveting displease God. I choose to obey out of love and gratitude, not out of fear of the consequence of lawbreaking.

What a relief that following God isn’t like playing Mao – it’s not a guessing game, and what pleases Him is clearly revealed. n Scott Riggan lives with his family on a small ranch in Emmett. He recorded a new album in 2021 titled “Beautiful and Terrible.” Go to scottriggan.com for more information.

Scott Riggan

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GOD Dots God is still in the dot-connecting business

The congregation of a new church in Rongo City, Kenya prays over the wooden structure that will become their temporary church building. They are praising and thanking God for it. (Courtesy photo)

By Jim Day

God connected the church I pastor in Hazelton to a pastor in Africa. Wycliffe Ouma Orangore has been called by God to plant a church in Rongo City, Kenya, and the church has grown and is thriving.

Last summer, the landlord told Wycliffe and his church members that they needed to be off his property by October in order for him to develop it. The church could not afford to move or to buy another property. The Lord told Wycliffe to reach out to an evangelical church in the USA for help.

Most people in Africa think that all Americans are rich. I would like you to ask yourself a few questions. 1. When you woke up this morning, did you get out of a bed? G O2. Were you able to go to the bathroom without leaving your house? 3. Did you have clean water to wash your face and brush your teeth? 4. Did you eat something for breakfast? D 5. Did you then go to work or to school?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you are wealthid o er than 90% of the world’s population. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Rongo City is a poor community. Muslims are building mosques all over Africa, but the Christian church is lacking. t s

Our church in Hazelton is Evangelical Valley Presbyterian Church. So, when Wycliffe searched online for an evangelical church, he found us. My cell phone number is on our website and Facebook page so he called me. I in turn saw a call coming in with some extra digits in the number and was going to ignore it, but then I answered. Wycliffe told me his story, his testimony, and I agreed to pray for his church. I asked our elders to pray, and they came back a week later and wanted to help this little church in Africa. Wycliffe and I are brothers in Christ, and we have also become friends. But even more than that, we are partners in an adventure with Jesus. Our little church has managed to send Bibles and money to their little church. Only because the Lord has blessed us with everyJim Day thing have we been able to do that. Wycliffe and his church family have purchased a piece of property and have dug the latrine and fenced the land and built a temporary structure to worship God and help the community see that God is good. Their landlord allowed them to stay where they were until they could make other arrangements because he didn’t want Wycliffe’s God to be angry with him. On Sunday, February 6, the congregation held its first service in the temporary church that they built. Look at what God has done! Thank you for all of your prayers for this little church. May God continue to richly bless you. n Jim Day is the pastor of Evangelical Valley Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Hazelton, Idaho. He may be reached at jandcday87@gmail.com or (208) 409-0063.