Cheat Codes – A Guaranteed Way to Mediocrity

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Some of us may be old enough to remember cheat codes in (dare I say classic) video games. Some of you may be young enough to know they still exist.

We that have used them did so for a few reasons. Some people couldn’t quite beat the game on their own. Others used them to see how fast they could beat the game through power-ups or quick health regens. At times there were codes available to unlock secret levels or other easter eggs that a player would not otherwise be able to play.

Apart from the non-enhancing bonuses in the games, they would merely get us through something we normally couldn’t. They offered an easy way to the end so we could say, Hey, look what I did!

Cheat codes in life

Let’s direct this towards life. How many people do we know or have seen trying to find the easy way out? In my opinion, playing the lottery is an attempt to to do just this. A person trying to get a lot of money without having to be disciplined and work for it otherwise. Yes, I know there are exceptions to that, but there are plenty of examples of people hitting it big. What happened to most of the jackpot winners? Story after story suggests they end up worse off than they were before, sometimes within 3 years or less. The New York Post has published an article with a few good examples of this.

Certainly there are myriad other examples of how we can cheat our ways through life. Think about how we cheat sometimes at work, for some (business owners or not) on their taxes; many ways indeed.

Some other ways that almost all of us can be considered guilty of, credit. Yes, credit and credit cards can be an excellent tool if we were disciplined enough to leverage them the right way. Truth is, most of us don’t. We end up using them to make purchases now so we don’t have to save and wait to buy them later. Probably one of the biggest drivers of why we cheat – instant gratification.

Here we have a few examples of cheating our ways in life. We do so for instant gratification, getting an advantage that we normally would not have, or simply to get something for nothing. Just like in video games.

Cheating in morals

Let’s direct our attentions to more conscionable matters, our morals. Most of us like to do good. It feels good to do good. But, why do we do good? Our motivation to do so can be quite telling.

For almost all of us, we try to do good for our families and our closest friends. That’s easy, not to mention it’s pretty much expected – family first, right?

Outside of doing good for family, another reason for some is so they can feel good about themselves. They may not admit it literally, but that’s the game. I can’t count how many times I have heard people say, “I’m a good person because of this, or that…” I am positive we all have both heard it and said it ourselves.

Other reasons include those that are able to write-off gifting on their taxes. Yes, in most cases benevolence can equal tax deductions. Please note that this is in no way any form of tax advice. Please consult a professional tax service, lawyer, or the IRS themselves for directions on that. Now that that is out of the way….

In the end here, we cheat in morals to self-justify ourselves. As long as we have the outward appearance of being a good person, who cares what’s going on in the inside? Who cares what I think or do as long as I’m not hurting anybody? What it does is level us out to be average. If we’re good on the outside only to justify and hide what’s on the inside, what good is it really? Put it like this, if a person is so concerned what others think of them to the extent of hiding who they really are, isn’t that the same as being fake?

Cheating in faith

Faith, what? How can we cheat in faith? Simple. It is just as easy to cheat in faith much like cheating in life and in morals. For instance, what is one of the number one excuses people don’t want to go to church? Hypocrites. Why would they think that? Because too many self-proclaimed christians merely put up the appearance of the faith and not truly living it. Much less, believing it. How many other religions have we seen like this? I personally have seen many – it’s not limited to christianity.

Given that it is a human issue in general, it’s easy to see why. Someone wants to be part of something but not want to do the work involved. Maybe they want to be popular or included but not want to truly believe. Worse yet, they feel like they deserve the rewards of that faith without the sacrifice involved. It boils down to a person trying to get something on their terms and not put in the work that is required, just as it does in video games and in morals.

Part of my story in cheating faith

Even years ago when I claimed to be an atheist, I was caught in whirlwinds of moral dilemmas. For me to be truly an atheist, and if all we have is nothing apart from what we see and feel, then what’s keeping us from doing whatever we want? Seriously, if there are no guidelines, no directions on what we are supposed to be or how to act, then why would we choose to limit ourselves? Apart from an all-powerful creator-god, what or why?

I came to the conclusion that atheists, including myself, were nothing more than the hypocrites we blamed christians for being. I realized that for me to continue claiming that as my “faith”, I had to still put up a front of being good and a contributor to society. It’s all about survival of the fittest and ‘evolving’ to something better, right? Even evolutionists are cheating themselves merely by stealing from similar moral concepts and standards required by God Almighty.

I can go through many examples since I became a believer of how I attempted to cheat my faith, it wasn’t limited to my previous beliefs. The truth is that I have attempted to do things on my terms, my ways, according to my standards and logic. The easy way out and instant gratification. Just ask anyone who trains physically, they will tell you no pain no gain. That gets us mediocracy – nothing more, nothing less.

Cheat codes = Mediocrity = Lukewarm

None of us should strive or give in to mediocrity. The bible teaches that we should do better than just enough to get by. We are told in Psalms to play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him (33:3). This is not to say to work to impress people, but to show ourselves as being faithful in the talents and blessings he has given us. We are warned against doing things to impress people in Colossians 3:23 – Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people,… To the Lord and not for people, yes that was worth repeating!

People who cheat in games tend to boast the much about their accomplishments, regardless of their actual skills. Those that cheat in school end up with credentials they will most likely not be qualified for. Who really are the people that are hiding behind outward good works? Let’s not even start attacking the faith cheaters – we could be on those battle fronts for eternity!

Cheating is a guaranteed way to mediocrity, in all aspects of our humanity – physical, conscious, and spiritual. It presents us as being something that we are not. Being mediocre tells the world that we have no passion or drive for anything apart from pleasing people. Instant gratification.

Don’t be lukewarm

Mediocrity is the same as being lukewarm. Not cold, not hot, just lukewarm. Just, meh. Jesus address the church at Laodicea in this way:

Revelation 3:15-16 – ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!

Would your favorite sports team be so if they did only enough to manage on whatever playing field they are on? If all it took was mediocrity, would it even be considered a sport ? Would you hire a doctor or a lawyer if you knew they cheated through their exams only to get where they are? Didn’t think so.

Closing out, cheat codes can get us access to eater eggs in video games, but they get us no where in life, and even less with God. Do what you do with purpose and with intent. Do what you do for God, and not for people. My prayer is that you seek to do good for God, which by default does good for those around you. Be the salt of the earth, and not just another organism just trying to survive and get by the easiest way they can.