Is life a zero-sum game?
Last night at Journey we began a conversation around the dynamics between our fears of not having enough and a biblical story that tells us to trust there is enough. As with most things, this dynamic is fraught with complexity. For example, in some areas, life really is a zero-sum game. (A zero-sum game has fixed limitations, like a pie with only so many pieces, and if one person takes a big piece or two pieces, there will be less for someone else to eat.) Consider your monthly budget. There is a fixed amount of resources you must allocate, and the more you put toward, say, your phone bill, the less you have for dining out.
However, there are also places where life is a non-zero-sum game. Any parent who has had a second child will tell you this. You could not imagine how you could love a second (or third, or fourth) child as much as you do your first, but one minute after holding that baby it finally hits you that love is in endless supply. There is no need for your children to compete for a piece of your love- there is plenty for all of them.
As people called to live in Kingdom economics, we have to push hard against all the zero-sum systems (which include both capitalism and socialism) that often train us to hold onto our “things” too tightly. We have to step outside of that fear long enough to allow the abundance of God’s love and grace to form us into a giving people.