Practicing Hesed (7): Learning to Count

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8

Dwell – Everything I needed to know about life I didn’t learn in Kindergarten. That’s why God has to re-educate me. He starts with the basics – A,B,C and 1,2,3. First, I have to learn the language of love. Then I have to learn to count according to God’s numbering system. That’s when I encounter this Greek word, logizomai. It literally means, “to put together with one’s mind, to count, to occupy oneself with reasoning and calculation.” God wants us to be re-educated about what counts.

Practicing hesed (compassionate acts) is a central theme of the Bible. With this word, Paul elucidates this theme with a new numbering system. God’s numbering system does not count according to the world’s view. God counts true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute, excellent and praiseworthy. Of course, now we know that many of these words have meanings that are not what we would expect. Now we know how God counts.

Wrap your head around these numbers. That’s God’s message. Reconstruct your mind so that it counts according to these things. And, by the way, ignore the rest. Kindergarten numbers no longer apply. God is not interested in the numbers of accumulating addition and personal multiplication. He is interested in the numbers of ego subtraction and community division.

Take a closer look at your heavenly math. Is your life constructed from the things God counts? Are you calculating on the basis of truth, justice, worship and the rest of God’s ordinals? If you had to answer the question, “What counts,” would your answer include the components of practicing hesed?

Logizomai is the verb of reckoning. It’s the measuring cup and the balance scale. It’s the verb that is used to evaluate and estimate the worth of something. It’s a lot more than just “think.” You have an opportunity, a divine obligation, to do some personal measuring according to God’s numbers. You get to hold up your own scorecard and see if your life reflects hesed. Don’t put it off. God may be infinite, but the time of His measuring numbers will come to an end.