After I had played Minecraft for a while, I decided it was time to take on the biggest challenge of all.
I was going to the End.
The End is a scary place (even scarier than the nether) and is full of Endermen and has an extremely large, and angry dragon flying around who wants nothing more than to see you fail. Although Minecraft is designed to not have an official ending, going to the End and defeating the dragon is the closest it gets to one.
I had never been there before so I did not even know what I needed to carry with me on this journey. I knew I could use Eyes of Ender to locate the stronghold where I would then find the portal to the End, but that was about all I knew. How do you prepare to take on a dragon anyway? I grabbed my bow, a sword, and a couple of potions and ventured out to take on the dragon.
I couldn’t help but think, “Are you crazy?” Who in their right mind wants to go to such a scary place on purpose? Whether I was in my right mind or not, I was going to do this. I was going to take on the End and I would come out victorious! Maybe.
It took six Eyes of Ender to finally locate the Stronghold. When I finally got there, I checked my gear one more time to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. Then, I put the missing five Eyes of Ender into the portal and jumped in.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes we have to do really difficult things in order to grow physically or spiritually? When you were first learning to walk, or to tie your shoes, you struggled. It was very difficult and you may have wanted to give up a couple of times. You may have thought to yourself, “I’m never going to figure this out!”
If you tied your shoes this morning, you probably didn’t even think about it. What was once so difficult for you to do, has become one of the easiest things for you to do. What if you hadn’t struggled a few years ago to do it? Aren’t you glad that you have learned to do it and that you didn’t give up?
Maybe you have thought about talking to your friends about Jesus. You know that they don’t go to church and whenever you mention something about the Bible, you notice that they don’t know much about it. This is when you might think to yourself, “I don’t know enough to bring it up right now” or “Someone else will eventually talk to them.”
You have probably heard of a guy named Moses. He is one of the most well known guys in the Old Testament. What you may not know, is that Moses didn’t think he was ready for what God had planned for him. In Exodus 3 and 4, God chooses Moses to be the one who will go to the Pharaoh and convince him to let the Israelites free from slavery. As you might imagine, Moses was a little bit nervous about this and we have five times where Moses makes excuses as to why he isn’t the right one for the job. Maybe he was a little afraid like we are when we know we need to talk to someone about the Bible. In the end, God shows Moses that he is not alone and assures him that he can do it. Moses was faced with a very tough test, but as a result of it, he grew stronger and was able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Moses continued to grow over the next forty years and was mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the people with the greatest faith. Each test that he faced caused him to grow stronger.
The Final Block
We face a lot of tests in our lives. Although the End is a made-up place in a video game, we all have times when we are faced with a very difficult challenge. We don’t really know how to prepare for it, but we know that once we overcome it, we will be stronger. This is how we grow into more faithful Christians.
Questions:
- Read Exodus 3 & 4 and notice each time that Moses makes an excuse. Do you ever make similar excuses for why you can’t do something for God?
- I mentioned that when we first started walking, we struggled a lot. What is something you remember struggling with that has become much easier for you now?
- What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing in your life right now? What will it take for you to defeat them?
Speak your mind...