Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Game

In my book, The Hoodlum Preacher, I talked about a well-known pimp that operated on the West Side of Chicago. I met him one Saturday afternoon in a barbershop, called Freddy’s. Freddy’s was a place where many of the players got their hair done. It was the 1970s and most of the players were wearing “Super Fly” perms. While sitting in the chair, he talked about the flamboyant lifestyle of players. Because of his reputation and notoriety, everyone in the shop was hanging on his every word.

He said, “There are two kinds of people in this world, the players and the squares. The squares have to get up and go to work everyday because that’s the only way they can make any money. They don’t know how to play the game. They are too busy living their dull, boring lives and trying to stay out of trouble.

‘But us players, we know the game. We drive the baddest rides. We’ve got the prettiest women. We’ve got all the money. And we do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it.” Then he said, “I don’t know about y’all, but as long as I live, I’m gonna be a player.”

Players are people that live on the edge. They are the pimps, the hustlers, the con artists, the gang bangers, and the drug dealers. They are called players because they play games on people that are designed to separate them from their money and their possessions.

This might sound crazy to some people, but there is something about the danger of living on the edge that is intriguing to people in that lifestyle. Maybe that’s why they call it “The Game.” To the players, it is a game. A very serious one. If you win, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you have outsmarted some of the most intelligent people in the world: doctors, lawyers, bankers, judges, policemen, merchants, and even other hustlers. But if you lose, you can lose more than just your money. You can lose your freedom, or even your life. But that’s the game. Everybody can’t play it. But if you chose to try, you’d better be prepared to face the consequences if you lose. And the consequences can be severe.

That lifestyle makes perfectly good sense when you are living outside of the will of God. We cannot see God’s truths because we are blinded by Satan’s lies and his promises of fame and fortune. But God wants us to live abundantly. However, some of us choose to listen to the one who has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. (John 10:10)

Some of players are tired of the way they are living. They are tired of drinking. They are tired of drugging. They are tired of prostituting. They are tired of going to jail. They are tired of playing the game. They want to quit, but they don’t know how. Sin is the game that Satan has tricked them into playing.

Some of our churches have built walls that separate us from the players. It is time to tear down those walls. We have to reach out to the players. They are the ones that Jesus died for. It is time for us to stop playing church, and start being the church.





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