She Said I Couldn’t Do a Devotion on House Flipper… Challenge Accepted

Can a game like House Flipper really teach us something about faith? This week, I took on a student’s challenge to create a devotion from one of the chillest games out there. Turns out, flipping virtual houses has a lot to say about spiritual growth. We don’t start with all the skills, we grow over time. And as we grow, we start to see things we never noticed before.

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So, the other day, one of the students at my church looked me dead in the eye and said, “I bet you can’t do an episode on House Flipper.”

I mean… challenge accepted sis…

 I saw it on sale in the PlayStation Store and thought, okay, let’s see what we can do.

Surprisingly, the game is super chill. You start off as this random guy just trying to make money, taking on handyman jobs, cleaning, painting, demolishing walls, fixing stuff, and eventually flipping entire houses. Some of these places are absolute wrecks, but by the end, they’re polished and (for some reason) sometimes weirdly cyberpunk. It’s kind of relaxing, actually. You’ve got soft music in the background while you’re just cleaning messes and blowing out walls.

But here’s what got me: the more you work in the game, the more you unlock new skills. In the beginning, you’re stuck with a tiny little brush, and it’s kinda frustrating. But then you earn better tools. You get faster. You paint more efficiently. You can even see where hidden dirt is on a mini-map, which honestly helps a ton. Some of these places are nasty, and stuff hides in corners.

That moment stuck with me. The first skill I unlocked was the ability to see more dirt.

And man… if that’s not a picture of spiritual growth, I don’t know what is.

When people first give their lives to Jesus, they don’t have it all figured out. We don’t expect them to. They’re new. Just like in the game, they’re working with basic tools, trying to figure things out, learning the basics of faith, and dealing with stuff in their lives. And that’s okay. That’s normal. It’s not about being perfect right away; it’s about growing.

And as you grow? You start to see things you didn’t before. You start recognizing areas that need attention. Areas that need to be cleaned, fixed, and restored. You notice things in your life and go, “Wait, that’s not right. I need to deal with that.” That’s not a sign of failure; that’s progress.

There’s this moment in Scripture that really hits on this. Paul is writing to Timothy, a young man in ministry whom Paul treats like a spiritual son. He’s helping Timothy figure out how to lead people, how to walk out his faith, and how to handle some tough stuff. And Paul says this:

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress..”
— 1 Timothy 4:15 (ESV)

Paul’s not telling Timothy to have it all together immediately. He’s saying, “Stay with it. Practice. Grow. Let people see what God’s doing in you.” That’s what spiritual growth is. It’s progress. It’s learning to walk out your faith more and more each day.

The more we lean into God’s Word, the more we pray, the more we actually live out what Jesus teaches, and the more we see where He’s working in us. And the more others start to see it, too.

And that’s not so people go, “Wow, look how spiritual they are.” Nah, it’s so people can say, “Whoa… if God can work in them like that, maybe He can do the same in me.”

It’s not about being some ultra-pious, fake-humble person who walks around like some sort of “Super-Christian.” It’s about letting God transform your life in tangible, practical ways.

So yeah, House Flipper. Who would’ve thought a game about cleaning digital garbage could remind us how God works in our mess, teaches us as we go, and helps us grow one step at a time?