Pinball and the Final Judgment

One of my favorite pastimes during my days at Greensboro College was playing pinball in the student center. I would come from the cafeteria right after lunch or even skip lunch to play. There was food in the student center but my food plan didn’t include it.

Two incidents I remember the most from those days. One was the day I played better than ever. I had accumulated 32 extra balls. Is there such a thing as playing forever? About the time I congratulated myself at how well I was doing, I realized if I didn’t stop I would be late for my one o’clock class.

Thirty-two extra plays and I had to surrender my game to someone else. An interested freshman walked by and suddenly my game became his. I rushed back after class but he had lost.

The second distinct thing I recall was the voice of my distinguished history professor Dr. Grayson thundering over the student center. “Mr. Ramsey, quit throwing your time away,” or “Mr. Ramsey, why are you wasting your life playing that game?”

The worst thing, even more wasteful than playing pinball – throwing time and life away according to Dr. Grayson, was playing along and having someone in the crowded student center accidentally bump the machine while you were playing and see the 4-letter word that ended everything – TILT!

Tilt meant you really had wasted your time. One little slide in the wrong direction and no matter how well you had been doing, it was all for nothing. Your game was over.

The Bible says, “It is appointed unto men- once to die, and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) This is why the shadow of destruction extends beyond death. Some will not see, until death comes knocking, the TILT sign over their life.

The game is over. Shut down. It is deemed a waste. You can’t start over. That would be playing a new and different game.

TILT nullifies the extra balls you thought you had. Spiritually, TILT requires the cost to play the game be paid again. Yet, at this point, there are spiritually no more quarters, no more tokens.

TILT means you sidestepped the cross of Jesus. His passion was offered to pay the price for your redemption. Even the TILT sign would have been overridden by the promise of Jesus. “Whosoever believes in me – I will raise them up on the last day.” But, unless you repent and align yourself with Jesus, the wrong 4-letter word will reign over your life.

Today, choose the right 4-letter word. Choose LOVE instead of TILT. Choose Jesus!