Mahjong and Christianity

My life has been tremendously busy these last 6 months, dealing with the rigors of business school and personal growth challenges. Sometimes it feels like I am groping in the dark without really knowing if my efforts are paying off, and if decisions I take now in circumspect turn out dodgy. To get through this, I have turned more towards God and play Microsoft’s version of Mahjong in my free time. l initially started on Easy, but quickly moved up to Hard and Expert puzzles.

Playing Mahjong is like a Christian walking through the challenges of life. You have to be thoughtful, careful, and deliberate about each move you make. As inconsequential as some actions may be today, they tend to rear up problems as we play the game, which then hinders our ability to complete the puzzle. The same principle also applies to life. That sin or bad habit which seems pleasurable and without any harm today, may cause us a ton of trouble tomorrow. Even the Bible says that Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

However, God does not let us go through this walk alone. He gave us his only Son to redeem us from sin and sent His Holy Spirit to guide our actions, teach us what to do per time, and warn us about harmful actions. This also applies to Mahjong. We have the Hint and Undo buttons to help us out of particularly difficult moments when we cannot see or fathom what move to make next.
However, as much as the Undo and Hint buttons present us with easy ways to get out of fixes, in Mahjong it is almost impossible to use these buttons solely and expect to win. Likewise, if we rely either on our own wisdom or else leave it all to Him to solve our problems, we are most likely not going to succeed. For as Paul said, “Faith without works is dead.” Therefore, we need to mix our unwavering belief that God will solve all our challenges if we come to him with contrite hearts, with our effort to ensure we are ready to accept His miracles when he releases them unto us so that they may germinate and bear fruit.

In summary, we are to put our faith in God and believe we are fully worthy of attaining our hearts desires, while being deliberate about actions we take, all the time leaning on Him for direction.