keeping score

so now we move to the last of the 3 things substituted often by video gaming...

keeping score. 


clearly, we care about the score being kept correctly - this is evident in gaming culture in MANY ways -
gamerscore (xboxlive)
K/D (kill to death ratio)
trophies (playstation network)
avatar awards (xboxlive)
leaderboards (most games that function on a network)

there are people who will play games JUST to "boost their gamerscore," which is pretty crazy to think about... someone who is willing to spend 10 to 24 hours of their life playing a game ONLY to get some imaginary points that have no bearing on any other aspect of life - they don't even play the game for story, content, or enjoyment, just the score. 
some gamers will play through a game JUST to get all the points out of it, even if they've finished the story and have no fun playing anymore, they want to get the 'recognition' that is inherent in 'earning' all the obscure and difficult achievements. 

you could actually boil down this obsession with achievements to the concept that we all want someone to keep score for us, to know that we matter.

we all want to earn respect, like i talked about in previous posts, and we want to know that we mean something in the scheme of things. 

hear this important truth: YOU MATTER to God the Father, the one who Created you.  you are vitally important to Him, and he loves you in ways you can't even understand. 

this is connected to another important truth: in Jesus, you have ALL you need - your score has been maxed out, if you will - for life and godliness.  (I Peter 1:3)


sometimes these spiritual truths don't resonate with us as much as the easier, practical thought of "if i earn it, i deserve it."  certainly, in gaming culture, you earn the weapon upgrades, the perks, and the points necessary to be respected and to matter to the game structure.  but what we find scripturally is that, in real life, we don't have to earn the upgrades or strive for respect - in Christ, we have all of that and more. 


when thinking about the idea of 'keeping score,' i think of Matthew 5:2-11 - in this teaching, Jesus is pointing out that in the big picture, God is keeping score of the things that might otherwise go unseen.  the way we live in response to the gospel of Jesus might not always be flashy, fun, exciting, and money-making, but our response to the gospel is what really matters in the end. 

there are two kinds of ways that score is kept for us in our lives, and these are relationships that are more meaningful that the kids we party up with on xbox live or the clan we want to join for WoW -  
one way is human accountability - and this is grown by intentional, consistent relationships with other people. 
i just posted about command structure, and this is directly tied to accountability.  those who are in authority and those who are serving us are also helping keep score for us, encouraging us to accomplish all that God has for us.   
think about friendships, too... we find in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that two or three who join together to accomplish something cannot be easily broken down.  Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1-3 that there is an expectation for believers to bear each others burdens, to hold each other up when necessary but also to recognize when we should be spurring one another on. 

even more significant than human score-keeping, though, is God's scorecard. 
I Thess 2:4 reminds us that God tests our hearts.  He sees deeper, through our occasional mask, knowing what our motivations really are.  and in Hebrews 4:12-13 we are reminded that God's word is powerful as a means of helping us gauge our intentions, and we will ultimately give an account to Him for how we have lived. 






that's a pretty heavy statement... we will give an account to God the Creator. 


thankfully, Christ will stand with us during that account, but nevertheless we will have to converse with our Creator about how many hours we gamed, how we loved our families, how we lived and talked about the gospel, and how we loved Him on earth. 

so ultimately, what we do matters... and therefore, what we DON'T do matters as well.  the way that games keep score for us and tell us that our actions have consequences and that we are important... this is only a dim glimpse of the fact that what you do with your LIFE matters... your actions have consequences, and you ARE important - God has given YOU a mission, hasn't He?  and he has equipped you for that mission and given you a chain of command to keep score for you and help you accomplish His mission, which is now YOUR mission. 





if you have any input or thoughts about the last three posts, please leave a comment or send me a message!  i'd love to have some help in developing these ideas so that i can share them again in small group contexts, youth events, etc.  but i need your help, kind reader :-)