Vol. VI No. 23 Dec. 02, 2007

I Cheated!

Written By

Christopher Mentzer

On November 1, 2007 I began a 30 Day trek to write 50,000 words. I ended that trek on November 22, 2007 finished at 50,217 words. Did I win? I sure did. Did I cheat? Yes I did! However, cheating is allowed… to an extent.

In preparing for this year’s novel writing challenge, I read up on the challenge itself and studied tips from other people who had previously won. To me, it all came down to getting the word count. That is to say, writing 50,000 words any way necessary.

How did I cheat? Well for one, I didn’t use contractions in some places. That makes two words instead of one. Another way was naming every main character and what they were doing instead of saying ‘they’. And of course, one of the easiest ways to obtain an increase in your word count is by ‘cut and paste’. Whether it be song lyrics, poems or a portion of another book. And yes, that is allowed. But each of my cheats, or word-padding as they call it, had a legitimate reason for being in there.

This article is not to encourage cheating of any sort. Cheating is wrong and will cause you lots of problems, not to mention that it is a sin. But the question to ask yourself is: Am I cheating God?

Now one of the main reasons people thing of when asked ‘Am I cheating God?’ usually has to do with the amount of money put in the collection each Sunday. Why? Because a lot of times people will make that connection of money and cheating. But if you give with a cheerful heart (2 Cor. 9: 7) then you are not cheating God.

When giving to God, it needs to start with yourself.

1) Give yourself to God by becoming a Christian and you do that by these steps: Hear the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), Believe Jesus is the Son of God (John 8: 24), Confess Jesus is the Son of God (Rom. 10: 9-10), Repent of your sins (Acts 2: 38), Become baptized to wash away your sins (Acts 22:16), Live Faithfully even unto Death (Rev. 2: 9)

One of the easiest ways to cheat God out of this first part is to follow the human belief of “Accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour and choose the church of your choice.” By reciting the ‘Sinner’s Prayer’ you immediately become a Christian. The problem with this is that not one individual in the Bible was ever saved in this fashion.

2) Give yourself as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12: 1-2). Read the rest of chapter 12 for ways you can do this.

3) Attend every service you can (Heb. 10: 24-25). Thereby you not only edify yourself but others around you.

4) Give yourself to participation in the service (Acts. 17: 11; Eph. 5: 19; 1 Cor. 16: 2; 1 Cor. 11: 23-29). You are not a audience member watching a performance.

5) Give yourself to daily prayer (1 Thess. 5: 17). A conversation with God will help you draw closer to Him.

Finally give yourself to study (2 Tim. 2: 15). In doing so you improve your defenses against the attacks of Satan.

Remember there is no back door to heaven and you can’t buy your way in. You must abide by the teachings of Christ and give of yourself for His purpose.