Snakes and Ladders

One of the most loved board games in our time was the “Snakes and Ladders.” I like its simplicity with the real-life experience of sorrow – when you land on the head of a snake and slide down to its tail, joy – when you land at the bottom of a ladder and you climb to the top, and victory when you reach the last square of the game board. In this game, your steps are determined by the number of dots that comes out after you throw the dice.

According to several sources, this game originated in ancient India with the name “Mokshapat" which means “Path to Salvation”. The main purpose of the game was to teach young children about the importance of moral virtues where the squares at the bottom of each ladder represents a virtue and the head of each snake represents a vice or something that is related to evil. After a long period of time, the game was brought to England and modified with the name “Snakes and Ladders” then to US with the name “Chutes and Ladders.”

Before I looked into the origin of the game, I have always associated the “snake” with people who want to pull us down or circumstances that actually bring us to rock bottom. Then, I realized that many times we put the blame too much on the things around us and forget that we are also accountable to ourselves because we hate to admit that we can be wrong.

Just like how vices can destroy us, there are some things that can hit us hard like a careless decision, unfiltered word, uncontrolled anger and a haphazard work. What comforts us is that in every fall we make, we don’t have to stay at the bottom because God’s grace is strong enough to pull us up and enable us to walk again.

I also used to think that landing on a ‘ladder” is mere luck but then the creator of this game actually wanted to teach the players that virtue is very essential for success in life. Although the origin of this game is for the player to reach “salvation or heaven” through the practice of moral virtues, I am thankful to know, as stated in Ephesians 2:8-9, that our salvation is not based on how good we are but rather on the grace of God.

The goal of the game was to reach salvation or heaven but if I could, I would rather set the goal to “Becoming Christ-like” until we reach the last step of our lives. The first square of the game will be the start of our lifelong journey in Christ at that instance when we believed and put our faith in Him to be our only Savior from eternal sin.

Thankfully, our steps in this earthly journey are not at the mercy of the dice that we roll, but are determined by God. The failures that we experience are inevitable as we are still in our sinful flesh but we can be victorious by taking responsibility of our actions and letting God bring us to a higher ground. The moral virtues and a Christ-like character should be the by-product of our faith in Christ.

The CoViD-19 pandemic has brought a crisis to the world but the effect of the pandemic has broken the hearts of so many people. The news reports are filled with either “pointing fingers” or “a competition of good works”. If only everyone will realize that life is not a competition of how much ladders you climb or of the number of snakes you fall into. Rather, it is a journey that each one should take responsibly and reach the end victoriously with others.

Let us continue to live as a responsible Christian until the last step of our earthly journey.

Ephesians 2:8-9 New International Version (NIV)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Galatians 6:3-5 New International Version (NIV)

3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.