Don’t take my word for it – read Joe’s article yourself! 🙂 Here is an excerpt:

How can I be a Christian for over three decades (since the age of six) and still be such a jerk? The only response I can give is that if I wasn’t a Christian I’d be much, much worse. As Evelyn Waugh–another Christian who recognized he was a nasty chap–once said, “If not for my faith I would be barely human.”

While true, that answer seems a bit of a cop-out. I don’t like being a jerk and I don’t like making excuses for my nasty behavior. So I attempt to be nicer, more likable. I pretend to be genial and gregarious in the hope that I’ll eventually become less of a jerk.

But it doesn’t work. The more I pose and pretend that I’m something I’m not, the more I appear to be a hypocritical jerk.

The main problem is that I go about it all wrong. Instead of trying to be more likable I should focus on being more loving.

He follows with a great quote from C. S. Lewis on the difference between loving our neighbors and liking or affection.

I can relate to Joe’s post. Give me enough time and exposure, and I will be sure to let you down. Do you ever feel like you’re a jerk, that it is just a matter of time until people discover the real you? Thank God for his grace, and pray for other people’s!

Are you a minister? You may be a minister and not even know it! Marcus Goodyear has a great article over at The High Calling on how we all fulfill the role of ministers when we serve others by doing what God asks us to do, whether in the church, the workplace, at home, or any other sphere of life.

In the article Marcus reflects on Jesus’ miracle of turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana (found in John 2:1-11).

The ministers in this story are the servants. The people who follow the commands of Jesus by fetching the water he has told them to fetch—and serving that water to the master of the banquet. It must have seemed like a strange set of commands, but they did what he asked them to do.

That is the role of every minister in and out of the church. When we do what God asks us to do, he works miracles through our work.

And we need to pay close attention to the location of these ministers. They aren’t just obeying God in the temple or the synagogue. The place where people traditionally met to worship and talk about God was not their place of ministry. Their place of ministry was their daily work. They were just going about their normal business, and Jesus showed up.

At one church where I served, we had a saying: “Our church has two pastors, but many ministers.” Every Christian is called to serve – not just the pastors. And as Christians we are called to serve God in all areas of our life – not just in church. Your daily setting is your place of ministry throughout the week when you serve God and others in that setting.

So . . . are you a minister?

Bob Kauflin writes about the place of skill at his Worship Matters blog. Although Bob writes primarily to worship leaders, his points here are applicable to skill in any area of life. Here are the main points. You can read the whole article here: Five Things to Remember About Skill.

1. Skill is a gift from God meant for his glory. None of us can claim credit for any ability we possess . . . Our skill is meant to direct people’s eyes to God, not us.
2. Skill has to be developed. [For] four years I practiced an average of four hours a day, seven days a week . . . Sometimes people come up to me and say, “I wish I could play the piano like you do,” My standard reply is, “You can! It just takes a little gifting, and practicing four hours a day for four years.” Skill has to be developed.
3. While God values skill, he doesn’t accept us on the basis of it. So even if I can play complex chord progressions, write songs like Matt Redman, or have a four octave vocal range, I still need the atoning work of the Savior to make my offering of worship acceptable (1 Pet. 2:5).
4. Skill should be evaluated by others. I thank God for feedback I get during rehearsal and after a meeting . . . We need the eyes and ears of those around us. It’s both humbling and helpful to hear back from people we trust who will speak the truth to us.
5. Skill isn’t an end in itself. Skill can easily become our ultimate goal and focus. At that point it often becomes an idol . . . Years ago I read a pastor comment that “God isn’t looking for something brilliant; he’s looking for something broken.” That’s a biblical perspective to keep in mind as we seek to develop our gifts.

I don’t know, it just doesn’t have the same ring as “Evel Knievel.” As a kid I was always enthralled by the daredevil exploits of motorcycle stunt man Robert “Evel” Knievel. I would watch in awe as he fearlessly jumped various obstacles on his motorcycle, sometimes making it and sometimes offering up spectacular wipeouts. And then of course there was his ill-fated attempt at jumping Snake River Canyon on his rocket-powered X-2 Sky-Cycle. (He didn’t make it.)

I had not heard anything about Knievel for years, except for a brief interview I saw with him during a David Blaine stunt special last year. I know, I am still watching stunt shows. What can I say? They say the personality is set by five-years old. So I was pleasantly surprised to read this in Christianity Today:

On Palm Sunday, hundreds responded to Robert “Evel” Knievel’s testimony by asking to be baptized on the spot at Crystal Cathedral. Speaking alongside the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Knievel told the congregation in Orange County, California, how he had refused for 68 years to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. He believed in God, but he couldn’t walk away from the gold and the gambling and the booze and the women.

(more…)

(This is from a series of posts on the Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Conference in Hartford, CT on March 24, 2007. To view the whole series, click here.)

Well, that wraps up the series of posts on the Iron Sharpens Iron conference. I hope this series was helpful – both as a quick review for those who attended the conference, and as an overview for those who were not there.

I got the idea of blogging the conference from Tim Challies who has blogged on a number of conferences at his site. (Tim is a braver man than I, and he even “liveblogs” some of the conferences while they are still going on!) If you enjoyed this series on the Iron Sharpens Iron Conference, I encourage you to check out Tim’s summaries of the various conferences he has attended. Here are the links:

• Desiring God Conference 2006
• Desiring God Conference 2005
• Ligonier Conference 2007
• Resolved 2007
• Shepherd’s Conference 2007
• Shepherd’s Conference 2006
• Together for the Gospel 2006
• WorshipGod06 Conference

How rich are you compared to the rest of population earth? The Global Rich List will help you find out. Just enter your annual income, click, and you will be ranked accordingly. The list works with U.S dollars, Canadian dollars, pounds, Euros, or yen. It is also fun to enter in different income amounts to see how you would rank if you earned, for example, $1,000,000 a year or just $1,000.

The list does not take into account such things as cost of living or a host of other economic factors, but it is helpful in gaining a better perspective of the distribution of wealth throughout the world. It should also encourage us to be more generous with the money that God has entrusted into our care.

Of course, this list only ranks your riches according to monetary terms. As Christians, we know that true riches are found elsewhere. “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.” (James 1:9-10)

Note: If you are interested in helping people around the world who have less resources than you do, here are some great ministries you can support.

• Compassion International
• Samaritan’s Purse
• World Vision

Have you ever sung the song, “Seek Ye First,” by Karen Lafferty?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness,
And all these things shall be added unto you,
Allelu, alleluia.
Lyrics by Karen Lafferty, © 1972 Maranatha! Music.

This article by Kim Jackson at Today’s Christian fills you in on the history behind the song. Find out how God used one woman’s overdue rent and a Bible study on Matthew 6 to bring about one of the most well known worship songs of the past three decades.

Do you ever struggle with regularly reading God’s word? I am currently reading John Piper’s book, When I Don’t Desire God, and found the following section helpful.

“A thousand interesting things compete for our attention to the Word of God. I confess that after fifty years of loving and reading and memorizing Scripture, I can be lured away from appointed times in the Word by something as insignificant as a new computer device. The illusory pleasure of newness can temporarily trump the far superior benefits of keeping my appointment with the Word of God.

“This is evidence in me of what Paul calls indwelling sin (Rom. 7:17,20,23). It is part of the remaining corruption lingering after the death of the old self (Rom. 6:6). I am not proud of it. It grieves me. At times it frightens me . . . I know this sinful inclination must be fought to the death . . .

“One of the ways we can fight against the inclinations that lure us from the Word of God to computers or television or any other substitute pleasure is to remind ourselves often of the immeasurable and superior benefits of the Word of God in our lives. We must put the evidence before us that reading, pondering, memorizing, and studying the Bible will yield more joy in this life and the next than all the things that lure us from it.” (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God, pp. 96-97)

I love God’s Word and read it (most) every day, but I also can find myself distracted by the most inconsequential things. I need to remind myself often of the “immeasurable and superior benefits” of God’s Word in my life. How do you make God’s Word a priority in your life?