Ever been in an intense playoff battle, waged an epic war, or simply got locked in a killer escape room experience? I bet you can check off at least one of these boxes.

 Like sport, like war, life functions according to a survive-and-advance playoff format. And like an intense ”escape room” experience, we must figure things out or get cooked, win or go home.

Death declares the winner. That’s the game life plays with us.

God knows that too. He knows there are destructive forces at work. He wants us engaging life’s playoffs and escaping alive with wins. He wants us surviving and advancing. Here’s how …

PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE. Spend enough time observing, listening, noticing, thinking about Jesus, and His undefeated, divine nature will noticeably rub off on you.

It won’t make you perfect but will give you a resilient, tough, overcoming spirit that will lift you and lead to consistent wins in this world and the next. Get to know Jesus well. This is God’s game plan (Romans 8:29).

ESCAPE FROM CORRUPTION. There are forces at work in this world committed to drag us down and take us out. The Bible calls this world a “corruption caused by evil desires.” 

This epidemic evil and inherent infection makes us all prone to pride and self gratification and given to envy, selfish ambition, strife and every evil practice (James 3:16). Things get our attention that shouldn’t. 

We need an escape from the deep trouble we can land in. Here it is:

• Trust truth. Don’t just know it (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
• Renew your mind. Fill it with good stuff (Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 4:8).
• Keep your moral motor in gear. Never put it in park (2 Timothy 2:22).
• Look for ways out that God lovingly, faithfully, powerfully provides. He will. And you must (1 Corinthians 10:13).
• Put weight in God’s promises and Christ’s coaching way more than in other voices. He said it. I believe it. That settles it (2 Peter 1:4).
• Remember the Lord. He knows how to deliver. Let Him guide you through (2 Peter 2:9).

Because God invites our participation in the divine nature and declares escape as possible, more survive and advance moments for us await … even today. So know Him better, claim His promises, participate and escape, and get those life wins.

Reflect: Are you committed to knowing God in Christ personally, participating in this divine nature pursuit? How well are your escape routes playing out? Great wins in life depend on this.

A prayer to consider: Lord, fill me by your Spirit with a survive and thrive mentality marked by Your divine nature showing up in me. Help me know You better and make Your Son’s approach to everything mine.

Boost my confidence in escaping the corruption of evil desires that ask me to go camping all the time. Get me moving, running the other way when I see any other mentality making its way into me or flowing out of me. 

Don’t let me slip into passivity mode. Call me out. Stop the compromise, despair, delusion, unbelief. I only want Your winning ways.

For Your glory and my joy and victory too. Amen.