Growing up in the secular world I found that the art of relationships was a big game.  There were certain things that you were told to do to try and get a girl interested in you.  As a boy, I fell into listening to them and attempting to apply them.  Each time I would hear something, it was a matter of giving it a shot to see if it work.  For instance, when you meet a girl, and you get her phone number, I was told that you should wait at least two days before contacting her; this was with the emphasis of not looking like you’re desperate.  “It just makes you look more attractive and gets the girl sitting at the edge of her seat, wondering if you will ever call,” I was told.  It was this idea of playing games on her mind and totally being in control of the situation.  The act of playing with her emotions so she would chase after you, and then hoping that would make me look more desirable.  The Chase.

Or the other one is learning what to say and how to say it so that you can manipulate the girls thinking of getting her to like you.  Again, this was all for the sake of getting something out of her.  Nothing more than a surface relationship, if you can call it a relationship at all.  This game for many guys is what they live for.  How many girls can you get attached to you so you can feel good about yourself.  This idea of girls being used as trophies is real, and that is the mentality of many guys today.

When I became a disciple of Jesus Christ, all this began to change.  There was no longer a need for the game and trying to get girls to like me to for the sake of feeling better about myself.  It became more about putting others first and seeing girls as sisters in Christ rather than trying to get something out of them.  When you see somebody in the image of God, they become so much more than just flesh.  They become the most beautiful thing in the world because that is how God created them.  A full human package with a spirit, emotions, and a mind, who is a created being loved unconditionally by God.  The more you walk with Jesus, the less self-centered you become and the more attention you push to Jesus Christ; because only He is worthy.  If we aren’t pushing people to love Christ, then we are just playing games with their minds.

Thank God, we don’t have to play games anymore.  We can be honest with all that we say when our motives are pure and set on God.  There are no more sets of rules that you have to abide by when you have a pure heart.  And when the time comes, and you have found that right person, it is no longer about trying to suck everything out of them, but it becomes more about how much you can out bless them.  You want to give your everything, all the time because true love is unconditional.

So if you are a Christian, and you are at that stage of playing games.  STOP!  All you are doing is hurting the body of Christ.  We have to start looking at people as created in the image of God, not somebody to add to your trophy list.  Games will destroy lives and mess with peoples emotions.  Jesus was always straight up and honest, so we should do the same by putting their needs first and living a sacrificial life.  Deny your desire to satisfy the selfish flesh and focus on seeing people the way Jesus does, and then fully trust God to provide you with that true unconditional love.

Relationships are not a game; they are life.