A Chess Game with the Devil By Bryan Hupperts
A senior pastor was sent a challenge to play a game of chess. The anonymous note said, “Victorious One: You are an undisputed Grandmaster. You’ve beaten your fellow servants frequently. You played against other senior pastors and won. Now, come play me.”
Game day came and the senior pastor found himself seated across a chess board from none other than Satan himself. In this knockout tournament, the pastor drew white winning the right to begin first. The devil grabbed the white piece from him and said arrogantly, “I always move first.”
Each set up their pieces and began to formulate strategy. The senior pastor was nervous but confident and declared to the enemy, “I will win. I have the mind of Christ.” Then the devil smiled a devilish smile and said, glancing at the senior pastor’s side of the board, “I cannot outwit the mind of Christ but you I will easily beat.”
The first match was on. Satan played with cunning and strategy and it became quickly clear the senior pastor was outgunned. Satan moved a pawn in gambit striking from the flank and taking an unguarded rook. Loss piled upon loss. No matter how valiantly he tried to respond, no matter if his moves were rooted in sacrifice or power, the senior pastor blundered. Every move he made seemed to benefit the adversary.The chessboard carnage was brutal and the senior pastor was finally humbled to desperate prayer. The devil laughed as he cried out, “Lord, I need wisdom. I have your mind yet I am being outplayed, outmaneuvered, and beaten at every turn. Why, Lord. Why”They played to endgame and the dreaded word was pronounced: checkmate.The stunned senior pastor watched his king fall as he listened to the enemies’ taunts and, though he felt he had failed God, he humbled himself further crying out all the more for wisdom. How do you beat a master tactician and swindler like the devil?
When the 2 minute warning sounded, he began to reset his side of the board for the next round. He was weighed down by a sickening dread when suddenly the Holy Spirit of God came upon him and said:“Review the board.”The senior pastor looked at the enemies’ pieces: pawns aligned on the front row with rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king in the back. Everything was in perfect military precision waiting for the strategic battle to commence.
The senior pastor then looked at his side of the board. He had the same pieces: pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king. He noticed, as if for the first time, that things were askew. Mentally reviewing the rules of engagement, he realized he had placed a pawn where a rook should be, a knight in the place of a bishop and, as he thought back on the failures of the first round, he saw that even the queen was occasionally out of place taking over the kings’ role. These foolish blunders were done at his command.And the senior pastor had an epiphany. He had all the right pieces but many were serving in the wrong place on the board in roles they were not empowered to play. “I have played like a fool,” he said aloud. “I am only a servant and not the Master of the game.” He began to rearrange the board setting the pieces, kingside and queenside, into their rightful places. And the chessboard transformed into a battlefield.
The devil looked at the repositioned board in alarm. His eyes narrowed and he said slyly, “Perhaps, senior pastor, your first strategy was right. Move those pieces any way ‘ole you wish. After all, you’re in charge, right? I must have gotten lucky the first round; that’s all it was, just dumb luck. You’ve played your brothers in Christ and beaten them all.”The pastor knew his cagy opponent was only seeking for an opportunity to devour him again, and replied, “I did beat my fellow servants and I was wrong to do so. Today, I repent. Devil, you did not defeat the mind of Christ. You only defeated me. I see now it is not mine to tell a piece how to serve not is it mine to dictate anyone’s destiny or calling. My role is to help all to work together in their unique giftings for the advancement the kingdom of God .”
The devil’s face went ashen and he said, tempting the pastor to pride, “You are the Grandmaster, the senior pastor. You decide what people should do and be!”The servant pastor smiled humbly as he placed the last pawn in correct position. “It occurs to now that to have the mind of Christ in operation in my life and ministry, He must be the senior pastor and I must be the undershepherd. I will rely on his leadings to beat you. And, as you yourself so wisely said, you cannot beat the mind of Christ.”
The devil began to panic and said, “No, go back to your nepotism. Your church has always been run like a family business with you, your family, and your friends in charge. This could go badly for you. You will no longer be the senior pastor. Why give up your power?”And the undershepherd servant pastor said meekly, “Christ alone is the senior pastor and it was never mine to dictate who serves where or how. Each piece must move in the light it is called to just as He himself is in the light. It is his kingdom, not mine.”He continued, “The board was out of order. I was out of order. Christ is now our Senior Pastor and divine order has been re-established. I neither submitted myself to God nor did I resist you at first play which gave you first-move advantage. I will not be so foolish again. And now,” he said, redirecting his attention to the strategically placed pieces on the board, “let us pray for guidance as we play for victory. Christ himself will lead us as our senior pastor and Grandmaster!”
This match was to be played to sudden death. The devil raged for he now knew his time was short. And the battle was on.
