Learning to Count

Published by christi on September 24, 2020September 24, 2020

Counting the hours that I lay in a hospital bed…waiting…

Counting the days till a birthday gift massage…

Counting the minutes until the absent loved one comes home…

Counting the seconds the microwave has to warm up my coffee…

There is lots of counting in our lives. Some of it is arithmetic; some is “higher math.”

There is the faith that is counted to us as righteousness, like Abraham, counting on God to show up “on time” for something, counting on God to keep His promises, like Sarah, counting on a friend to come through with needed help.

But there is another counting that I struggle even more to be able to do: Counting trials as joy.

In my reading, I find myself at the beginning of James’s letter to the dispersed people of God. This is his opening statement: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. 

Sounds like a pipe dream…some mysterious, not-quite-realistic fantasy of an approach to the inevitable difficulties of life on this broken planet. Nice words, but unrealistic.

I discovered something important about this statement today: The word translated count  has as it’s first definition in the Greek dictionary: to lead, that is to command with official authority.” Let’s put that definition into that statement.

Lead, command with official authority, your thinking with calm delight about the trouble that surrounds you, because you understand that this trouble, whatever it is, will produce perseverance, which will in turn produce completion of the likeness of Christ in you.

(James 1:2-4 My paraphrase)

This is the message of the early verses of James 1.

This is more that “think happy thoughts, add pixie dust and stir.” This is instruction to take a firm hand in the direction that my thinking takes. I can grab a thought that tends toward panic or despair, look it in the eye and say, “You! Ugly, faith-draining thought! Get out! I refuse to think you! I choose to affirm the goodness of God and His faithful promise-keeping!”

Now this is the kind of counting I am gonna sink my teeth into! I choose to recognize that bad stuff happens, will happen, but it will not rule my attitude, instead it will be transformative in my life, making a more complete…

Follower of Jesus every day in the everyday.

Christi