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Friday, October 8, 2010

Jeopardy!

Jeopardy is a popular television game show that rewards contestants when they guess the right question for a given answer. I used to be a Jeopardy fanatic. For years, I played along from the comfort of my living room, often guessing more right "questions" than I did wrong. I used to brag that if I ever got a chance to play for real, I could become Jeopardy champ and win a lot of money doing it. Then one day, I heard that the Jeopardy tryouts were coming to my hometown. This was my chance to go to Hollywood I told myself. So I signed up and reported for my big day.

The room was filled with a hundred other Jeopardy wannabees like me--BRAINIACS all. The tryouts were a process of elimination to determine who would ultimately get a chance to appear on the "real" show. The rules were read, and the game began. All I can say is, it was brutal. The answers were more difficult than any I'd ever had to face on the TV version. I didn't have a clue as to what the questions were. But neither did most of my competition. After about an hour when the cerebral dust had settled, one guy was left standing; and he only made it into the "second" round. I was deflated. It took a long time before I ever watched an episode of Jeopardy again.


Which brings me to the reason for this blog. Its about questions of a different sort. Did you know that there will be questions to answer in heaven? The bible tells us that everyone will have to give an account of himself or herself to God for the deeds done while in the body (Rom 14:12, Heb 4:13, 1 Peter 4:5). There's no escaping it. Like in a courtroom, every one of us will stand before God, the righteous judge, to be questioned by Him about what we did with our lives. And what you say, as well as not having anything to say, could very well put you in jeopardy.


If I had been able to get a hold of those Jeopardy answers in advance, I would have been better prepared to give the right questions. Unlike Jeopardy, God has given us the answers in advance, as well as, a lifetime to prepare. And not only that, He gave us a sinless role model in Jesus Christ to pattern our lives after; an infallible study guide, the Holy Bible, to help us clean up our lives; and a patient teacher, the Holy Spirit, to direct us. So, "[We] have everything we need for life and godliness," (2 Peter 1:3). How about it? Will you have the right answers when your turn comes before the righteous Judge? That's the question. What's your answer? Post a comment to share your thoughts.