Hey guys! After realizing that the “About Me” section didn’t count as my first “official” blog post, I figured explaining the Italian proverb I stuck in my “About Me” post would make a great first “official” blog post. If you don’t know what the World Race is and would like to know more about it or about my personal trip on the World Race, check out the “About Me” or “What is the World Race” tab on your left.
Here is the proverb again:”At the end of the game, pawns and kings go into the same box”. Due to the fact that multiple interpretations of the proverb exists, here is my interpretation of it and how it applies to my upcoming journey.
First off, I want to clear up what I do not think it means. I do not think this proverbs deeper meaning is that at the end of life, we all go to the same place regardless of we lived our lives. This is one of the modern interpretations of it which is why I wanted to explain my thought process behind it and how I interpret it.
Of course, in a literal sense, it’s saying that at the end of a chess game, ALL the pieces, whatever their importance in the game was, go into the same box. During the time period of this quote, the “box” was referencing a grave or catacomb and that whether one was of royalty or a servant, we all ended up in the same “box”: death. Pretty sad, I know. Over the years though, an interpretation of it has become that we all go to the same place, i.e. heaven, no matter what and that it doesn’t necessarily matter how we lived our lives. I believe it means something much different than that.
God doesn’t look at race or ethnicity. He doesn’t look at rich or poor. He doesn’t look at male or female. He loves everyone and desires all to be saved.
Galations 3:28 – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, their is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Jesus Christ.” (KJV)
He sees the heart and sees the fact that His Son Jesus died for everyone. None of us are greater than the person next to us. We are all sinners yet God showed his awesome love for every single one us. His love and mercy encompasses and surrounds everyone. As believers, we are all new creations in Jesus Christ. (1st Corinthians 5:17).
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (ESV)
Romans 5:8 – “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (ESV)
This is how we, as beloved children of God, should see other people. Especially the ones we sometimes can look at and think they are somehow not as important or as good as us. While on the World Race, this needs to always be at the forefront of my mind. In the other countries, rather than seeing people as beneath you, focusing on the fact that Jesus died, had His body broken and shed his blood for ALL people and seeing people through that lens will truly produce the radical and life transforming change I hope to witness. I cannot go in with the mindset of being the “king” and thinking the people in the other countries are the lowly “pawns”. This kind of mindset will not effect true change. Everyone is relentlessly loved and pursued by God or in terms of the proverb, “pawns and kings go into the same box”. The worldly mind feeds the ego and screams “Well you’re better than them!” or “You’re not as bad as them!”, but as Christ followers, looking to Jesus as our source of strength and humility, our desire and goal should be to see others through the perfect eyes of God.
I might have stretched the proverb a little far but hopefully you saw my point.
