by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n
Several times you mentioned that life was just a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I’ve puzzled over where you got such an idea. You know as well as I do that this isn’t a concept taught in the Bible.<\/p>\n
God taught you to enjoy life but with care. “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 11:9-10).<\/p>\n You can walk away from a game and no consequences follow you. Games don’t impact your life. But in real life, your choices determine your eternity. “As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death<\/em>” (Proverbs 11:19).<\/p>\n If the word of Truth (John 17:17) doesn’t teach that life is just a game, then that idea came from another source. “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:1-2). So who is running your game?<\/p>\n Never forget those who love you and are praying for you daily because we won’t forget you or give up on you. We know that your life is at stake. To us, this isn’t a game.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearching for My Friend\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Game? by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Several times you mentioned that life was just a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I’ve puzzled over where you got such an idea. You know as well as I do that this isn’t a concept taught in the Bible. God taught you to enjoy life but with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25976,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65594","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/before-the-difficult-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":0},"title":"Before the Difficult Days","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Before the Difficult Days by Jeffrey W. Hamilton It is easy for young people to ignore how short life really is. At 21, 80 looks like forever. \"So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom\" (Psalm 90:12). Even if you do live a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14487,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/why-did-god-create-man-a-study-of-ecclesiastes\/the-answer\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":1},"title":"The Answer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Answer Reading Assignment:\u00a0Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:14 Did you understand what you read? When is the best time to begin serving God? Why? Solomon describes growing old in Ecclessiastes 12:2-5. List each description and its meaning. So what makes life meaningful? Lesson Enjoy your youth while you have it. Just remember that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65860,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/what-makes-life-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":2},"title":"What Makes Life Better","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"What Makes Life Better by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Being satisfied - Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 Waiting for the right time, patience\u00a0- Ecclesiastes 3:1, 10-11 See the good in what you do and fear God\u00a0- Ecclesiastes 3:12-14 Be happy with the present\u00a0- Ecclesiastes 3:22 Take time to rest\u00a0- Ecclesiastes 4:6 Have friends\u00a0- Ecclesiastes\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/the-consequences-of-choices\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":3},"title":"The Consequences of Choices","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Consequences of Choices by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I was thinking more about your claim that life was just a game to you. I can see how it appears to be a game to you. You've been playing hide and seek with your family and friends, trying to see how\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44709,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/proverbs-practical-advice-on-life\/a-choice-of-paths\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":4},"title":"A Choice of Paths","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A Choice of Paths Text: Proverbs 4 Acquire Wisdom! Proverbs 4:1-9 Once again Solomon admonishes his readers to pay careful attention so that they will be able to reason well. What he is offering is good, sound teaching that should not be carelessly discarded. These teachings are the same ones\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65845,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/desiring-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":65594,"position":5},"title":"Desiring Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Desiring Life by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \"Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65594\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}