Play God Day Series

This is the 2nd in our series of “holidays” in January you probably haven’t heard of.

This one is called the “Play God Day” and its “observed” on January 9th each year.

According to www.cute_calendar.com:

“The day encourages you to do something nice for someone to make someone’s day better and brighter. On this day you don't have to perform miracles, it is enough to do something simple.”

www.daysoftheyear.com/days/play-god-day/observes

“The concept of Play God Day is pretty simple. What would you do if you were god for a day? If you were god how would you change the world? If you had the place of the higher being you could set right all the wrongs you see in the world - and that is the theme and purpose for this day.”

Of course, that could all depend on what god you wanted to be.

One man joked: “A miffed Greek god was able to hurl thunderbolts down from Olympus and incinerate mortals. (So you might) try to shuffle your shoes on the carpet and then touch someone ... making a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty thunderbolt between your pointing finger and your victim's neck.”

Now, I’ve got nothing against this “holiday” – any day that dedicates itself to encouraging people to “do something nice for someone else” can’t be all bad. But I got to thinking about Play God Day, and I began to realize that most people don’t need any encouragement “playing God.” It’s a natural human tendency…and the 1st shadow of that tendency shows up way back in the garden when Satan tempted Eve

Satan casually begins to put doubt in Eve’s mind: “Did God REALLY say…” and then he directly accuses God of lying: “… God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God...” Genesis 3:5

And we’re told that she gave in to the temptation “when (she) saw that the fruit of the tree was … (amongst other things) desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it…” Genesis 3:6

The temptation appealed to Eve because she WANTED to become like God!!!

Now, why would Satan use this temptation to attack Eve? Because that was what tempted him when he rebelled against God. In Isaiah 14:13-15 God speaks about Lucifer

“You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”

Now why would Satan want to be like God?

Why would he want to ascend into heaven and put their throne above God’s?

Well, Satan did it because he was a proud and arrogant being. He didn’t like how things were being run… and he thought he could do it better. He wanted control because then he would know it was done right!!! He wanted to do things HIS WAY!

Now it’s easy for us to condemn Satan for this, but we need to understand… this is the core of many of our temptations as well. We tend to want to do things OUR WAY.

And it’s almost like this is hard wired into us from birth.

ILLUS: A preacher named Ray Stedman told of 2 year old grandson. He said his mother was at her wit’s end - she’d tell him to eat his food and he’d refuse. But if she told him “Now don’t you eat your carrots” he’d gobble them up.

You know what that boy was doing? At 2 years old this little boy was declaring that he was going to do things HIS way. He learned early how to “play God.”

And, just like that little boy, we often want OUR WAY.

Why? Because we’re convinced WE’RE RIGHT!!!

ILLUS: There is an old Beatles song that goes this way:

“Try to see it my way

Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?

While you see it your way

Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone.

We can work it out. We can work it out.

Think of what you're saying

You can get it wrong and still you think that it's alright.

Think of what I'm saying.

We can work it out and get it straight, or say good night.

We can work it out. We can work it out.

Try to see it my way

Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong.

While you see it your way

There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long