The Numbers Game

Most of us would naturally assume that the only people who are interested in numbers are mathematicians, architects, accountants and financial advisors.  The ugly truth is that many of us are caught up in the numbers game.  Kids want to be the most popular one in schools so they try to amass a following.  If only it stopped there…

Authors crave readers buying their books and standing in line at a signing.  Celebrities revel in the attention.  The media lives by the ratings book which shows their acceptance in black and white.  Even churches today fall into the trap of desiring more and more congregants at their services, summed up in the 1992 movie “Sister Act” so succinctly, “putting butts in the seats”.  When this becomes the focus, the truth can get watered down and the purpose forgotten.

We can easily sit in judgment on groups or organizations – or even individuals – who suffer from this malady.  But, who among us has not felt this way at one time or another?  Wanting accolades or acknowledgement of a job well done.

Teach your children well and sometimes it will come back to bite you!  When I first considered staring this blog, for instance, I was already lamenting the odds of anybody actually reading it to which my son interjected, “Well, Mom, wouldn’t it be worthwhile if only one person read it and was blessed?”     Ouch!

Sometimes we have to re-examine our motives.  Are we playing a numbers game, too?  “Nothing I do is important.”  “Nobody cares if I’m here or not.”  “I’m wasting space by still being here.”  Wait just a second!!!  We all have purpose till we’re gone and that time is not up to us.  If you examine the life of our Lord and what He did, you will discover that, yes, He spoke to 5,000 and to 4,000 and He taught 12 disciples (12, not 1200), but He spent much of His time one-on-one.  Healing the blind man, the paralytic, speaking to the woman at the well – who was not only female but also Samaritan!       

So, let’s focus on where He has us and if that’s one-on-one, then let’s let Him take care of the addition and the multiplication and the numbers game.  The reality is:  it’s not a game.  It’s life.

“Then came a woman of Samaria to draw water…The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him,’How is it You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?’…and at this point His disciples came and marveled that He had been speaking with a woman.”                                       (John 4:7, 9, 27)