Lessons Learned From...Computer Games?

Some of the most profound things I've learned have come from the seeming inanity of my beloved computer games.

Don't believe me?

Take online Jigsaw Puzzles for example. (You should complete a few before you continue...not only will it help you understand my world a bit better, but the illustration will make so much more sense.)

As I completed puzzle after stimulating puzzle a few months ago (my computer game habits come in waves), I noticed an interesting phenomenon. As I dragged a piece around a partially-completed puzzle in search of its home, it became apparent that as it drew near to its intended location, the edges became less distinct and the colors and patterns blended perfectly with its surroundings.

Lesson #1: When you are where you are supposed to be, you disappear and allow the big picture to become the focus. When your colors and patterns (say, gifts and talents) line up with your location, you often lose yourself in the larger goal.

Take the Christian, for example. We read that "He must become greater, I must become less" (John 3:30). The analogy holds up: better for me to be almost indistinguishable, but rather a piece of something that conveys the image of Christ. As I join hands with my brothers and sisters in Christ, my edges should blend away and I ought to merge seamlessly into the body so that others see not me, but a piece of Christ. As Christ becomes greater in my life, so my flesh, my desires, my will submit to His until I am but a window into His greatness.

Seriously, do a puzzle, you'll see what I mean. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a piece snap into place and disappear!

Ok, lesson #2: Appropriate vulnerability leads to true strength.

Travel with me to a different game this time. In Dicewars, the goal is to take over the map by winning dice rolls against your opponents. Kind of like Risk, only with much less thought involved. A strategy I've learned throughout my months playing (this game defies the typical wave pattern and is more of a long-term addiction) is that sometimes you have to let the enemy break through your defenses so that you can ultimately punch back through and defeat him. Drawing him out with some weaker territories will spread him too thin to be able to defend against your next attack.

The point? There is benefit to showing weakness. Not to say necessarily that your displays of weakness should be a stepping stone to world domination. But there are times when our ultimate well-being depends on allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. By allowing ourselves to be penetrated past our weak defenses and into our very core, we allow ourselves to be changed, cultivated, and finally grown stronger. Whether it is a word of loving truth, a difficult piece of criticism, or the very Word of God which is sharper than a double-edged sword and penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12), when we are pierced by something or someone truly worthwhile, we often find that it is a blessing rather than a wound, bringing healing rather than injury.

And as a psychologist, I have to add that it is when we allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable before others that we are able to build the strongest relationships with them and, indeed, know ourselves the best. This is true particularly in our relationship with God...it is in true humility, laying ourselves bare before His penetrating Word, that we learn the most of His grace and rise up strengthened in His love - and having a right view of ourselves as favored sinners.

See how much you can learn from the right computer games?

And you thought I was just wasting time...