Playing Monopoly in Life

Yesterday in church, Pastor Sam Rijfkogel talked about how man people play the game of monopoly in their real lives. I have taken his basic message and expanded on it to what I believe, and here it is:

Life is like a game of Monopoly for people who are greedy. They want to get all they can, can all they get, and are nevery satisfied because they'll always want more until they have it all (which they never will). They think they will be happy when they have more stuff (money, possessions, power, etc.), but they never are - they will always want more. The problem is that they aren't thinking about what the game of life is really all about, and what happens when the game is over. See, for greedy people, life is like Monopoly because the game takes a while to finish playing, but when you are done, even if you win, all of the property you owned, all of the houses and hotels you had, and all of the money that was yours goes back in the box - and so do you (your game piece). Whatsmore, all of the stuff you use while you play the game is fake anyway!

This relates to real life because everything on this Earth that we regard as being worth so much whether it be possession, a property, or money is all fake in a sense too. The only thing that is real, that can and will last forever are the things that really matter like relationships, feelings, and your soul. Everything else just goes back in the box when the game is over.

Now you can play the game in a different way. You can play the game and not be greedy about it. You can play in a way where you make sure you do well for yourself and have properties to generate income for yourself. But you can also help others by making trades that will be beneficial for both of you. In fact, if you play in a way in which you try to do what's best for not only yourself but everyone else playing too, then everyone does better! You can help each other by making trades which will also make each other happy (improving your relationship), increase your properties and/or the amount of money you have (improving your finances), and the game (your life) will last longer and be happier. In fact, eventually if you keep playing the game like this, you will have all of the money from that bank distributed between the people playing and everyone will have more money than they would have if they just tried to win as fast as possible by screwing the other guy, being greedy, and only looking out for themselves! So everyone does better if you play the game this way! And the best part is that in real life, there is no limit to what is in the bank. God wants all of us to have an abundant life, and there is no limit to what He can provide for us! This is great news!

So how are you playing the game? If it's not the way you should be playing, what are you going to do in order to start playing a better way? Let's play the way where everyone works together and is happier, everyone gets more, and the game lasts longer!