Just one Step Ahead

"Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor." Romans 12:10

I have to confess, I have been a little hooked on a computer game lately. It's called Sid Meier's Civilization IV. The object of the game is modest: all you have to do is build a modern civilization from scratch, and compete with others to become the greatest empire in the history of humanity. Easy enough, right? I admit, I still haven't beaten the computer, though it's not for lack of late nights playing. Laura laughs at me for getting so engrossed in the game, but if she can wile away the hours playing Words with Friends, I figure we can both have our quirks.

It's amazing how deep the human competitive streak runs, even when you're competing against a bunch of pre-set algorithms, and much more so when it's against other people. I remember an effort at Trinity Seminary called "Here I Step," where every student was given a pedometer, and various small groups competed against each other to get the most steps in a month. Chain stores will often pit franchises against one another in friendly sales competitions, igniting a fire in the belly of which you'd never know retail outlets were capable.

So as I was thinking about this--and about how, I'm a little embarrassed to admit, I've lost some sleep this week playing this silly computer game--and the genius of Paul's exhortation to Christians in Rome really showed. "Outdo one another in showing honor." If we're wired in this funny, competitive way, we may as well get some mileage for God's Reign out of it. If we're the type of people who treat everything as a contest, why not have the contest be showing honor to others, and placing others' interests above our own? Jesus' announcement that coming in first in his Reign means being last of all and servant of all has a similar flavor...although if the disciples were anything like my sisters and me when my parents first taught us about this, they must have just scrambled and threw elbows to get to the back of the line and the bottom of the dogpile, just as hard as they had been scrambling to get to first place. It could be a lot worse.

I was taking a walk with Maggie and Soren today, and it occurred to me that while we were enjoying the scenery, we might as well pick up a few pieces of trash. Before we knew it, our pockets were full and the trail looked nicer. Now, I see folks walking up and down this trail all the time--almost every time I go to work. And not to judge a book by its cover, but the folks I see mostly don't look like a bunch of Snickers-eating litterbugs. But they clearly aren't the "start/end your jog by picking up one, single solitary piece of trash" set, either, because otherwise the trail would be pristine. I think, if most folks are like me, they tend to skip over tasks they'll just have to do again later, and that nobody will be likely to know or care if you do in the first place. It takes some reflection to realize how the conscientious folks out there probably outnumber the (physical and social/spiritual) litterbugs two to one, and if we just focused on staying one step ahead of them, God's Reign would have chances to break in all over the place.

So, all my software/app designer friends, I have a brainstorm: How about "Actions with Friends", a game you could play online, based on actual actions you do. Sort of like "Horse" on the basketball court. "Hey, I just gave $20 to malaria relief. Beat that!" "Okay, I'll match the $20, plus I'll tutor a kid this week. In yo FACE!" (OK, maybe the trash talk needs work, but I think there's potential here, no?) Who will go home with the trophy? Get your brackets ready, cause it's on!

Maybe that seems a little silly, or beside the point of serving. And honestly, it kind of is. We do loving actions, not to show up our friends, but because Jesus first loved us. But even Paul made it clear that good things can come even from pretty lame motivations. Heck, maybe Jesus was on to something by calling twelve bull-headed, twenty-something dudes to follow him. Don't tell me they wouldn't have gotten a little intense on the basketball court if they were alive today! And what we got was the original Jesus movement that became the Church we have today. God uses even the sides of us we're a little embarrassed by. It makes for a pretty exciting faith walk, if you ask me.