Animal Crossing
(Love) is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs 1 Corinthians 13:5

MESSAGE:
What’s more fun than a cute animal game that mirrors adult responsibilities? The second you land in New Leaf Town, you instantly owe Tom Nook money for your new life. Instead of enjoying life in the community, you need to start digging, fishing, and scavenging for bells to pay off your debt. You must always grind in Animal Crossing to pay off your house, and when you finally pay off that bill, you can work even harder to pay for furniture, decor, and nice things. Isn’t it great we use video games to escape real life? (sarcasm)

Pettiness is the enemy of growing relationships. You cannot love someone with the promise of growth if you constantly calculate how much they owe you. This goes both ways. When we start judging behavior and keeping score in a relationship, we become sales clerks. You will say, “If you want me to unlock my deluxe house cleaning package, you need to pay me with quality time,” or you might say, “Because you didn’t come to my birthday party, I added three apologies to your bill.”

This transactional relationship model is based on shame, jealousy, and pettiness. Maturity measures how much you can give without asking in return.

Jesus sets the standard for calculating wrongs and rights. When he forgives your sins, he multiplies your deeds by zero. Anything times zero is still zero. When he judges your value and worth, he multiplies himself by one. His value times one will always be the same number.*

This “love math” is fully endorsed and sponsored by his sacrifice on the cross, which turns evil deeds into zeroes and unworthy humans into ones.

*This is the full extent of my math skills.

Research: Romans 13:6-10

Paul commands the church to pay off their debts, but which debt does he want to remain outstanding?

How is a love debt (where we constantly strive to serve one another) different than a sales clerk debt (where you keep tabs on what people owe you)?

Why is love (freely given) considered the best way to follow Jesus?