The Christian Kobayashi Maru by Nancy White
If you are not a Star Trek fan, you have no idea what I’m talking about. If you are a fan, you are probably wondering what the famous Starfleet Academy training lesson from the fictional show, Star Trek, has to do with being a new church lady.
First, for the non-fan, let me tell you that in the Star Trek franchise the Kobayashi Maru was a training exercise required for all Starfleet Academy cadets. It was engineered to be a no-win scenario in order to test the character of cadets in a situation where the outcome of their choice (whichever option they selected) would be the loss of many, if not all lives from their own crew and/or the people on the civilian vessel Kobayashi Maru, which they were sent to rescue.
Ever since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden, when Eve listened to the serpent, and Adam joined her in eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, mankind has been in a Kobayashi Maru situation. There was no scenario in which we could rescue ourselves from the fate of eternal death.
Famously, in the fictional program, Kirk, as a cadet, was unwilling to lose and so he re-engineered the game so that he could rescue the Maru without any loss of life from his crew or the civilians.
And when Jesus came to this earth in human form, suffered and died for our sins, He changed the game forever and gave us a path to eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 [NKJV] explains it like this: For since by man [came] death, by Man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
Of course, this was God’s plan from the beginning – to have Jesus slain for our sins. [Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (NKJV)]
Mankind’s no-win situation required the perfect Lamb of God. We Christians know who and what we were before our calling. If we try to deny that, the Word convicts us. Titus 3:3-7 is just one example where we are called out on this. Titus 3:3-7 [NKJV] 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Believers still count on that sacrifice every day, to wash away our sins and set us back on the path of obedience. Daily, we ask for the washing by the blood that is available to us. And, daily, His mercy is renewed toward us. [Lamentations 3:22-23]
This rescue is never sweeter to believers than at this time of the year, when we commemorate the Messiah’s sacrifice and renew our commitment to obedience.
For our part, we must show our appreciation by following the words of 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 [NKJV] 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.
We understand that this is not just about cleaning house, it is about cleaning our hearts.
As so we thank and praise our merciful God, for Jesus, the game-changer, who rescues us all mankind from our self-inflicted Kobayashi Maru.
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