The cool game

Try too hard to be cool, and you risk losing everything

What does your phone say about you?

Mobile phones are the ultimate example of something that can make you cool. Mobile phones range from $40 contraptions, the size of a tic-tac, that have the life span of a disposable camera, right up to the latest iphone that can run your life for you. Do you want a phone for fashion, or function? Does anyone decide to buy a phone because it is particularly good at making a call? The truth is we buy phones because of the style and features. The mobile phone is a fashion accessory and a measuring stick for how cool you are. Like it or not your phone says something about you: It tells others about your taste, style or wealth.

Who's the coolest?

There are other measuring sticks we use to determine our level of coolness: the clothes we wear, the cars we drive and the houses we buy are all measuring sticks for how cool, fashionable and wealthy we are. The truth is that being cool is a game that never ends and is a game you can never win. You will never have the luxury of putting your feet up and relaxing. Fashions change, technology dates and if you don’t keep playing the cool game, soon enough, you will be left behind. Being cool is an endless treadmill of bigger, better, newer, faster that never slows down and never stops.

What's cooler than being cool?

Jesus has something better for your life then playing the cool game. Jesus spends Matthew chapter 6 teaching about money, possessions and worry and he finishes it up with: “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “ (Matthew 6:31-33 NLT).

Jesus teaches us to reject worrying about possessions and instead focus our energies on a bigger cause: God’s kingdom. God has a plan to redeem people, to end injustice and to make the world a place that reflects God’s values. Only God has the answers to the world’s bigger problems and calls us to join him in seeking first his cause. You get only one life and you must decide how you will live it and what cause you will pursue with it: The cool game or God’s cause. You can choose the cool game and be forever on that treadmill worrying about whether to dye your tips, get a piercing or upgrade your ipod. The alternative is to reject the cool game and worry more about what God thinks of you then what the popular crowd thinks of you.

Was Jesus cool?

Jesus hung out with unpopular people and said unpopular things. At times he was misunderstood and people smeared his reputation with false rumours. Jesus was never thrown off his mission by the opinions of others. He was only concerned about what God thought about him. Jesus calls you to reject selfishness and self-obsession. You will never stand out for God if you are obsessed with fitting in and being accepted. Reject the cool game, seek first God’s cause in this world and you will soon discover the cool game wasn’t worth winning in the first place.