It may occupy a space as one of my favorite PS1 games of all time, but my first attempt at playing Metal Gear Solid was anything but, well… “solid”. For starters, the button layout was the complete opposite of what I was accustomed to, with the buttons I used to confirm a choice vs. cancelling a selection reversed… and that’s not to mention adapting to a gameplay style where stealth and restraint was the only way to succeed. For years I enjoyed games with unlimited ammunition and solved my problems through a combination of firepower and quick reflexes, but MGS forced me to be patient, thoughtful, and intentional about what I did and how I used my limited resources. It challenged me in ways I hadn’t faced before, and I became a better gamer for the experience.

Choosing to follow Christ requires a complete rewiring of our minds, because the only way to play this game and win is HIS way. Walking in His footsteps and carrying our cross requires us to embrace the paradoxical nature of the last becoming first and turning the other cheek, and these concepts will never compute until we allow His Spirit to transform our minds and reprogram our thinking. His path will always feel counter-intuitive to our natural instincts, but He can’t multiply the bread in our hands into enough to feed multitudes until we surrender it to Him first. 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

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