Still Counting

When your daily Bible reading plan includes reading through the Bible in a year, the more memorable passages of study are not always on tab for any particular day. For the past week I have found myself pouring over the text of Numbers (a book that sounds about as exciting as the Moundville phone book or the 2018 U.S. Tax Code). In fact, the title of the book finds its origins in a place where one might expect—the book of Numbers is about …numbers! Many of us found the study of mathematics about as exciting as a root canal. In fact, whoever taught you the basics of math might fall into the same category as the teacher in this story:

A young woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they are atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A girl named Lucy has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not an atheist." Then, asks the teacher, "What are you?" "I'm a Christian." The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a Christian. "Well, I was brought up knowing and loving Jesus. My mom is a Christian, and my dad is a Christian, so I am a Christian." The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?" She paused, and smiled. "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be an atheist."

Regardless of your educational experience, most of us can honestly admit that the relevancy of mathematics in our daily lives is inestimable. Whether it is counting pages in a book, the number of hours left in your workday, or counting the money you have (or don’t have) in your banking account, numbers matter! This is precisely the message of that ancient book so titled by Moses. Within the opening chapters of the book, God commands a census to be taken of His people…a counting of heads if you will. Those numbers are parceled out precisely by Moses and Aaron. And then, something very unique and quite amazing is communicated. Each of those individual numbers is assigned a duty. All is done in a very orderly manner and it is all for the glory and purposes of God in His world. God provides a very important lesson in this book—numbers matter! Each number signifies a person who holds inestimable worth before God. Numbers certainly mattered in creation as the Psalmist writes, “He counts the stars and knows them all by name” (Psalm 147:4). Numbers were certainly on Jesus’ mind when He said, “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Because numbers matter so much, it is important that we continue to evaluate our progress in our “Advance the Harvest” campaign. Our congregation committed roughly $326,000 over the course of three years. To this point, we have given just under $100,000 of this amount. However, a church debt that was more than one million just four years ago now stands at $637,000. What does all of this mean? There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I don’t think it’s the light from the train! Every number matters as we are one step closer to financial freedom and the ability to pour all of our resources into the Kingdom of God. So, numbers may not be very exciting…unless of course, you are a number! Then, numbers matter. And because they matter, so does the important work our church is doing.

Still counting,

Jason