My grandchildren love to play video games, like most of the kids I know. When I stayed with them overnight a few weeks ago, they delighted in showing me their favorite game, "Plants VS Zombies." It was cute to watch, but I never thought of it as material to adapt into a Bible lesson. LOL!
In the game, zombies threaten to invade the home of the player to "eat his brains." The only thing standing between him and the invading Zombies are the plants in his yard. To play, the player has to strategically plant flowers and veggies to defend against the onslaught of the enemy.
Sunflowers and special glow-in-the-dark mushrooms provided sunlight energy (during the day and night) which allow the player to buy more plants. Walnuts are defensive items that prevent the enemy from advancing while other offensive weapon plants can be purchased and planted. Those offensive "weapons" included several types of pea shooters, a fly trap type plant that eats zombies, various types of mushrooms and Autumn's favorite - a squash that plops down on the zombie and squashes him. There is even a cherry bomb that incinerates several at the same time.
Now I love to take things children are familiar with and make Bible lessons from them. I believe the lessons will stick in their minds and come back as a reminder each time they see those items.
As I sat down to prepare a lesson for youth church this past week about fighting temptation, there they were: a whole host of little temptation zombies threatening to invade our minds and "eat out brains."
So I created a table-top game to demonstrate how we can fight temptation. The Bible and prayer gives us the "energy" we need to strengthen our relationship with the Lord and fight back against the waves of temptations that are set to attack us - things like impure thoughts, time-stealers and heart attitudes that threaten to destroy our relationship with Christ every day.
Then we must put on and use our defensive and offensive weapons - the armor of God and the fruit of the spirit to prevent these mind and heart deadening "zombies" from getting through our defenses and taking over our minds. When we fail to get properly suited up or if we fail to use the offensive fruits like love and self-control, the enemy will get through and destroy our spiritual life.
While it may not be the most orthodox way to teach Bible truths, it works! I know whenever I see that silly game in the future, I will think of my version and be reminded that I need to be on guard against the temptations that come my way.
In the meantime, I challenge you to use God's word and prayer to strengthen yourself against those invading temptation zombies!
Father, guard our hearts and minds against the temptations of the enemy. Help us to be prepared and to fight back when temptation comes so we don't lose the battle for our minds. Amen.
