Who’s Counting

Musings from the Garden

By Peggy Wyar

 I have a degree in accounting so I’m often told that I view numbers differently than most people might.  In reading God’s Word I was intrigued to find that Paul used an accounting term in some of his writings. Probably the most well known scripture is this:

James 1:2-4 ESV
 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The word “count” is the accounting term.  It may have been used by Paul to highlight the contrast between the difficulties of trials and the need for a faith-filled perspective to see them as joy.  He knew enough of trials to know the good outcome that God is able to orchestrate through them.

Imagine you have a set of accounting books that you use to keep record of different accounts.  For instance, you might have an account called Me in Christ.  Maybe you have another one called Everything Else.

In simple terms, each account uses debits and credits similar to the increases and decreases in your checking account.  Debits decrease the value and credits increase the value.  In the world of accounting, if you debit one account there should be a credit to another account to keep the books balanced. In the above scripture you might “count” joy as a credit (or increase) to your Me in Christ account. You would then debit (or decrease) your Everything Else account with “trials of various kinds and “testing of your faith.”

Of course joy is not the only benefit (credit) that is gained.  There is also steadfastness, completeness, and lacking in nothing. You have gained much from the trials.

Another scripture that uses the same term is :

Romans 6:9-11NIV
“For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

According to this “counting” we would debit our Everything Else account with “dead to sin”, and our Me in Christ account would be credited with “alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We have made more gains.

The next scripture that counts for us is:

Philippians 3:8 ESV
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Using this text we would debit our Everything Else account with “loss of all things and rubbish”, and our Me in Christ account would be credited with “surpassing knowledge of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

So you can see that just from these three scriptures we have decreased our Everything Else account’s value by placing our trials, our sins and all other things as debits.  We have then increased our Me in Christ account with joy, steadfastness, completeness, lacking in nothing, knowing Christ Jesus as Lord, and being alive to God. If you notice, the credits far outweigh the debits.  These accounts do not balance and never really will.  The gift righteousness from Jesus will always be of far more value than anything we endure or give up. We would be wise to count this as true, just as God instructs us.

There may be other scriptures that encourage us to “count”, but these are the examples of what I wanted to communicate with you. We get to choose how we view our trials, our losses, or our pet sins in comparison to what we gain in Christ. It’s good to keep counting what we have gained in Christ, and to keep counting our blessings so we don’t grow weary and lose heart.