Counting

A number of years ago I was reading the Christmas story and I was struck that Caesar was a counter. He calls for a census that sends Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Perhaps there were good reasons for the census, but it seems to me that at least part of the reason was sheer pride. Caesar liked knowing how big Caesar's empire was, because it made Caesar feel good about Caesar's self. Caesar was a counter.

Several pages to the left of that account we meet Abram/Abraham in Genesis. God speaks a tremendous promise to this man--he will have not just a child in his old age but through him all the people's of the world will be blessed. God invites him to step outside and count the stars. That's how your offspring shall be. God invited Abram/Abraham to be a counter.

What makes one counting holy and one counting deplorable is more about motive than it is about the counting itself. Caesar's counting is about self-aggrandizement. Abraham probably doesn't actually count the stars, but he is invited to allow his imagination run wild at the prospects of a nation so great that it is literally un-countable.

Abraham's "counting" is done in awe and wonder and it gives glory to God. Caesar's counting is about grasping and gloating and it gives glory to Caesar.

Here, I think, might be a piece to thinking about what it means to grow well. And I don't think that this is simply applicable to a ministry context. What if business folks, students, parents, teachers thought about the fruits of their labors the same way? In every context we are at various points invited or forced to do some evaluation and critique. This can be done in awe and wonder or it can be done with the hidden motive of propping up the "self" that is doing the counting. Such counting is idolatrous and destructive. To count in awe and wonder is life-giving.

Just ask Abraham.