Keeping Score

“This is not a competition,” I said, as the teams were reporting on their day.

We were on a mission trip and had divided up into teams to share the gospel in different areas. It was not supposed to be a competition for a number of reasons. We were sharing the gospel to lead people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. To do it right takes time. Doing it wrong does not take as much time. So numbers may not be a good indicator of success. It may only reveal speed and a need to do more follow up.

“Okay, so how many did you get?” a team member asked.

It is human nature to be competitive. Some people are naturally more competitive than others. We keep score in order to know who wins. There are winners and losers. Sometimes we have the attitude that if somebody is going to win it might as well be me. I find that annoying mainly because I know I have that attitude at times, and am praying to change it in my own life.

There is a problem when we feel the need to keep score at everything. There are a lot of times when keeping score is more than annoying; it is the wrong thing to do. We should keep score at friendly games, but not with friendships. We should keep track of debts we owe, but not of wrongs committed against us. Marriage, family, Church, and work are all places where keeping score is wrong.

We can sometimes make a game out of an activity and make it fun and easier to do. Friendly score keeping as part of such a game can bring out the best in us. Unkind score keeping to prove a point of one-up-man-ship can destroy a relationship.

In speaking about love in the classic chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:5b, Paul said, Love, “does not keep a record of wrongs.” (HCSB) Love does not keep score and does not have to win.

When people in a relationship feel that they have to win and someone has to lose they both lose. On the other hand, when we want someone else to win and we set aside our needs for someone else, we all win. That is love, and that is the Gospel truth.
Bro. Robin