What Really Counts

By Rob Genin, Executive Director, YBL

As we approach election day next week, so many arguments are being made for one side and the other. Not every issue is of the same importance or magnitude. We all have to figure out what requires our full attention: a torn sock is disappointing; a torn artery is dangerous. Is that a routine noise that your car is making or a signal of a major problem? Is your employee’s lateness a rare event or a systemic one? These discernment decisions are a part of our everyday work and life. The apostle Paul gave his hearers a grid to evaluate important decisions, and he shared them through a unique phrase that appears three times in scripture:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Gal 5:6)

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” (Gal 6:15)

“Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.” (1 Cor 7:19)

All three of these passages refer to circumcision and uncircumcision, which in their day would be shorthand to refer to those who were culturally Jewish or culturally pagan. The modern-day equivalent would be people who grew up in church and people who did not. Paul is making the case that issues surrounding those rites and observances are not the main issues they (or we) should be concerned about. Something else is more deserving of our focus and attention.

All three texts then proceed to give different answers to “what counts”. What counts is faith expressing itself through love (Gal 5:6). What counts is a new creation (Gal 6:15). What counts is keeping God’s commands (1 Cor 7:19). I would argue that these three different answers are all important and interrelated.

Instead of focusing on mere ritualistic and mechanical religion, Paul tells the Galatians that faith expressing itself through love is what is needed. And how is that possible? Not through simply more determination, but through “a new creation”. God makes and transforms us so that we can see what is true (faith) and then live according to the truth (working through love). And what does that look like? Not a mere ritual observance of the law, but a person who keeps God’s commands from the heart because they are motivated by love of God and people.

Wherever we land on the elections, the most important issues go deeper than the ballot box. God is calling us to seek Him and His new creation power in our lives. Then we will really be able to discern and live according to what matters the most.