The Applause
Jesus tells us not to worry because He wants us to enjoy life. And when we enjoy life, we make the right moves.
“The Applause” was the sixth game in the 1972 World Chess Championship between the Russian, Boris Spassky, and the American, Bobby Fischer. This game was played at the height of the Cold War.
Fischer once famously said that there is usually only one good move.
The number of potential positions in a game of chess is called the Shannon number, and it is greater than the number of atoms in the observable universe, at a staggering 10^1201.
This number expands out of the many potential moves to make at any one time in a game. The challenge is to find the good moves amidst a multitude of rubbish ones.
At the heart of these two players’ genius, and all highly successful people for that matter, is their ability to make the one good move without being distracted by the innumerable bad ones. Bobby was never concerned with what might go wrong, even when he was in serious danger. The relationship between worry and success is clearly antagonistic.
Christ tells us not to worry for one reason2: He wants us to enjoy life. It is a sign that we trust God when don’t worry, and when we trust God we live lives of purpose and joy. It is a beautiful cycle.
When looking at the Shannon number above, we clearly can’t be worrying about the multitude of bad moves. It is too much to think about.
Christians often focus on not sinning, which usually ends up with sin. Don’t focus on not doing wrong. Focus on doing good. Focus on making the one right move, and the bad ones fall away.
A fundamental rule of chess is that you can only make one move at a time. As human beings, we are constantly trying to do everything. This analogy shows me that it is not about how much you can do, but rather if you can truly do that one thing properly.
An interesting thing I have noticed in mature Christians is their obliviousness to the fact that they are living a righteous life. There is no box ticking. There is no piety. This is all replaced by a certain carelessness for everything but Jesus.
Bobby won the game in 41 moves, and the world applauded. The carelessness for everything but the one right move, won him the game.
Let us be careless for everything but Christ, and know that when we seek the kingdom of God, everything else will be added unto us3.
Claude Shannon (1950). “Programming a computer for playing chess.” Philosophical magazine. 41 (314).
Matthew 6:25-34
Matthew 6:33