How to Count

James 1:2 says, “Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds.”

I want to be able to do this, don’t you? We all meet trials. We all live in a fallen and broken world. No one has ever lived a life free from trials. Being able to “count it all joy” when we meet trials of various kinds would certainly be a blessing, would it not?

The Greek word that James uses here for ‘count’ is the verb ἡγέομαι which would be transliterated as hegeomai (interestingly, it’s where we get the English word ‘hegemony’ from). It has several different senses:

1. to hold a view, to have an opinion, to consider, to regard. It is used in this sense 20 times in the New Testament.

2. to so influence others as to cause them to follow a recommended course of action. It is used in this sense 5 times in the New Testament.

3. to rule over with the implication of providing direction and leadership. It is used 5 times in this sense (and it’s the sense that’s most closely tied to the English word ‘hegemony’).

In James 1:2, the word takes the first sense, but I think it’s helpful to see the other senses as well so that we can understand the word’s full range of meaning.

At first glance, these different senses may no seem very related, but if we think of the act of leading through the lens of vision-casting, then the senses start to tie together more closely (at least in my own mind). A true leader is someone who provides direction not by force or compulsion, but by casting a vision that is so compelling that others desire to follow it. To do this, a leader must first consider or regard something to be true and valuable and worth pursuing.

Okay, you might be wondering why we went down that particular rabbit trail, but I think it will be helpful later. For now, let’s move on…

So what does it mean to “count” something? And how do we do this “counting” when it is not, perhaps, our natural reaction or inclination?

To help answer the first question, let’s look at some other verses where this same word is used…

• Phil 2:3 – “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
• Phil 3:8 – “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
• 2 Cor 9:5 – “So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised…”
• 2 Thess 3:14-15 – “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
• 1 Tim 1:12 – “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service…”
• Heb 11:11 – “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”
• Heb 11:26 – “He [Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

So what does it mean to “count” something? It includes internal acts of the mind and heart such as: thinking and considering, weighing and judging, and firmly believing. But these internal acts must overflow into external actions.

We treat others as more significant than ourselves because we believe them to be (Phil 2:3).

We give up wealth and home and position because we believe doing so leads to more intimate relationship with Jesus (Phil 3:8, Heb 11:26).

So “counting” originates in the heart and mind and overflows into actions.

If we look at the second sense of the meaning of hegeomai and apply it to ourselves, we could say that we ought to influence ourselves in such a way that we follow a given course of action. Or, to incorporate our previous rabbit trail, we could say we need to lead our own heart by casting a compelling vision that we want to follow. How does this work exactly?

First, we need to inform and reform our beliefs. Second, our reformed beliefs will transform our attitudes and wills, which will, third, overflow and allow us to perform actions that align with our beliefs.

That feels nice and linear and logical, doesn’t it? But perhaps it doesn’t always work itself out quite that neatly in practice. Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but just don’t want to do it. Sometimes, we might have to ‘fake it, till we make it’.

In those moments, we should ideally take the time to do the hard work of influencing ourselves, leading ourselves, preaching to ourselves to attempt to reform our beliefs and transform our attitudes and wills before we perform any actions.

But sometimes we don’t have the time or the energy or the margin to do that. What then? Well, I believe that God created us as beautifully integrated creatures. Our beliefs and hearts and attitudes and actions are all intimately intertwined. And I think that sometimes we might need to just perform the action that we know we need to do, even if we don’t feel like doing it. And trust that doing so will eventually lead to a transformation of our attitudes and wills. This may sound a bit like legalism, but I think it’s actually the polar opposite. Our posture is one of humble hoping and trusting, not one of proud performing or meriting.

Perhaps we may need to simply wash feet until our heart becomes humble. Or do dishes until our heart desires to serve. Or treat someone we don’t really like with respect and love until we find ourselves feeling that respect and love. Or tithe until we feel the love of money loosen its grip on our hearts.

So how do we apply this to our original question? How can we “count it all joy when we encounter various trials”?

One approach is to go from ‘roots to fruits’ and to seek to reform our beliefs. We need to meditate and memorize Scripture that relates to suffering and loss and trials. We need to meditate on the God we serve and how holy and worthy He is. We need to remind ourselves over and over of the truth. We need to set our minds on the things above, where Christ is. As we preach to ourselves in these ways, we reform our beliefs, which will transform our hearts, and lead us to perform certain actions.

Another approach is to go from ‘fruits to roots’ and seek to act in such a way that our heart will follow suit. What actions might we take to help transform our hearts? Here are a few suggestions:

1. We can choose to stop complaining about our trials – mourning and grieving for real losses is not wrong – it is in fact healthy and good. But sometimes our mourning and grieving can easily slide into complaining and grumbling. Choose to not complain.

2. We can choose to worship and praise God in the midst of our trials. Just as Paul and Timothy sang hymns in prison. Maybe we need to sing those hymns even if our hearts aren’t really in it.

3. We can choose to endure difficult trials instead of running from them. James 1:3 provides some motivation to help us “count it all joy” when we encounter trials when it says, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness [endurance].” You can check out this previous blog post for more about this idea of endurance. 

And perhaps the best approach is simply to integrate both of these approaches. We ought to seek to transform our hearts BOTH by reforming our beliefs AND by performing these (and other) actions.

And as we do this, may we “count it all joy when we meet various trials.”