Back when the original NES Super Mario Bros. game first came out, I heard rumors that there was a secret level hidden within the game… the mysterious World -1. After a bit of research that mostly involved asking friends and buying gaming magazines for clues, I finally cracked the code… I smashed a few specific blocks, jumped awkwardly through a wall, and I finally found it. But once I went down that warp pipe, I learned the painful truth… World -1 wasn’t some magical place, it was an inescapable prison. This infinite, pointless loop was a trap, and all that it offered me for diligently seeking it was endlessly treading water until my time expired. The only way out? The reset button.

Life is full of many pursuits, but the true value of each is measured by what they offer at the end of the game. I’ve personally wasted years of my life chasing shortcuts and “pipe dreams” that promised fulfillment but ended in a prison of my own design. While following Christ may seem restrictive at times, it is to save us from hidden traps, unnecessary pain, and an ending we’ll regret… so let’s embrace His protective limitations today. His way is the ONLY way.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:20-23

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