Life is like a Rubik's Cube

One of my grandsons is an expert at solving the 3X3 Rubik’s Cube. At the age of eleven, his fingers work quickly as he rotates the various pieces of the cube. When I asked him what his plan was to solve the puzzle, he mentioned something about notations, algorithms, and speed-cubing. Got it?

When Hungarian professor Erno Rubik invented the puzzle, he was actually trying to invent something else. But before long, everyone wanted to solve his puzzle. The current world’s record holder for solving a Rubik’s Cube is held by Korean gamer SeungNeom Cho (Steve). He completed this feat in just 4.59 seconds.

A robot built at MIT has reportedly set a world speed record for solving a Rubik's Cube, cutting the previous record of 0.637 seconds (set by another robot in 2016) down to just 0.38 seconds. So you can see that solving the Ribik’s Cube is a true challenge.

My grandson was trying to solve the puzzle with great zeal. Then, someone in the house suggested that he just peel off the multi-colored stickers and replace them in order so it would look like it is solved. We all had a good laugh until my grandson said, “It may look solved on the outside but it will be permanently wrong inside.” Think about that incredible statement for a moment.

Life is full of challenges, and it is difficult to figure it all out. We puzzle over relationships, finances, education, politics, and religion. All of us are trying to solve these issues so we can find prosperity and happiness. Unfortunately, most people do not have the time or inclination to approach these issues in a step by step fashion. Instead, they search for a shortcut to success.

There are some people who will stoop to anything to give the outward appearance that they have solved the big issues of life. Cheating has found a place in American culture. Just read the news reports of embezzlers that have been caught, thieves that have been jailed, and con-artists that now occupy prison cells. They did what was right in their own eyes and fooled some people. But in the end, their misdeeds were revealed.

Like moving the stickers around on a Rubik’s Cube, there are those who give the outward appearance of success, when inside, they are permanently wrong. As Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Oh yes, like a horrible pay day, we earn the wages of our greed, deceit, and betrayal of the trust of our fellowman.

There is a verse in James 4:17, that draws a line. It says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” It is possible to cheat and be successful. It happens too often. And not everyone gets caught,….here. But there is an eternal Pay Day of reckoning when the books will be opened, and our shameful deeds will be revealed.

Revelation 20 teaches that God has a set of books that contain every word and deed that we have ever spoken or done. And one day, He will open those books and we will be judged according to what is written in them (Verse 12). This may seem a bit heavy for just moving some stickers around on the Rubik’s Cube. But, right is right and wrong is wrong. We determine our eternal destiny by our daily decisions in life. Choose life. Chose Christ. It’s better!