Chess is
an ancient game of strategy. Each player begins with 16 pieces on the
chessboard with the goal of cornering his opponent’s king. It has taken
different forms over the years. One form is human chess, which was introduced
around ad 735 by Charles
Martel, duke of Austrasia. Martel would play the game on giant boards with real
people as the pieces. The human pieces were costumed to reflect their status on
the board and moved at the whim of the players—manipulating them to their own ends.
Could
this human version of the game of Chess be one that we sometimes play? We can
easily become so driven by our goals that people become just one more pawn that
we use to achieve them. The Scriptures, however, call us to a different view of
those around us. We are to see people as created in the image of God (Gen.
1:26). They are objects of God’s love (John 3:16) and deserving of ours as
well.
The apostle John wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Because God first loved us, we are to respond by loving Him and the people He created in His image.
People are to be loved, not used. (RBC)
