My Spiritual CV Isn't Up To Scratch

You may have seen them – blogs written by the mum with 5 kids, who’s writing a book, doing a Masters and runs a website – oh and she home-schools her kids!

Or the guy whose Twitter feed describes him as a pastor, musician, blogger, writer, husband, father of 3, international speaker…and he still tweets 30 times a day!

When online I catch myself -

Comparing me to him. My wife to her.

And I feel inferior. Because both I and my wife are, I guess, ordinary.

I’m 6 weeks into being off work with a broken back – a great time to do some study, read books…grow my spiritual CV – and yet I’ve felt too lousy to do anything at all.

And I’m aware again that my spiritual CV seems so inadequate.

Do you ever feel like that?

How should we respond when we do?

 

Relax – it’s ok to have a great spiritual CV

I need to remind myself that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with having a great spiritual CV. Look at the Apostle Paul and how God used his background! If you’ve got the gifts, I reckon go for it! I am glad there are high capacity, clever Christians with well-researched blogs (unlike this one!) and who lead big ministries.

Remember – my CV isn’t a measure of my godliness

I am so impressed when people have all these degrees and qualifications, or when they’ve ministered somewhere for 40+ years. But it doesn’t mean they’re more godly. In fact, it means they are more at risk of being the older brother.

Just last week a good friend of mine had a big accident that meant he might not walk again (yes, like me he fell off his bike!). He would say his spiritual CV was in tatters – for months he has been miles from God.

But God is healing him.

Unexpectedly he can walk.

And he feels closer to Jesus than ever!

The work of grace in his life may have a greater impact on his kids than 18 months of consistently being a great dad.

 

Not that this is a pattern to follow, but it shows God’s outrageous grace to sinful people; God’s throwing a party for him.

And you know my natural reaction?

‘Hey God. I’ve been trying to be faithful here. I’m working hard. My CV is growing. Now look, this guy is closer to you than I am. He doesn’t deserve it!’

I guess I need to remember that God measures things differently.

I want to rejoice when God brings the lost son home

For others, their CV just isn’t as impressive-sounding. My wife deals with ones and twos. She is faithful to what God has given her to do. It doesn’t write up great on a twitter feed or description of herself. Only God knows her faithfulness to him. It’s not for me or another to judge.

 

 

Relief - God uses those with holes in their CVs

Most of the Godly people I meet don't have impressive CVs. In fact the bible is full of such characters like Peter, Moses and Abraham – it’s not an excuse, but the reality.

I know a guy with no qualifications to his name. He’s in his 70s. He would have a fairly blank resumé as we know it if he were to write a blog or list his credentials.

 

He boasts quite simply that he knows Jesus.

 

 

How I want to be like that. Even if I have stuff on my spiritual CV, I hope that I can be faithful to what God says.

'But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me’

Jeremiah 9:24

I don’t want to fall into the trap of measuring my success or godliness by the length or depth of my spiritual CV. And so if my spiritual CV isn’t up to scratch I don’t have to worry.

 

Just trust Him.

 

John Greenall is a Paediatrician and Head of….

Oh stuff it...

John Greenall wants to boast that he knows Christ

Image credit: Shutterstock

Don’t like, share or retweet this post

 

‘Lovely photo of the kids, stick it on Facebook’

‘Great quote – I’ll tweet it straight away’

‘Profound message this Sunday, I’d better share it with my friends who all need to hear it’

 

Social media has changed our lives. I am constantly coming across profound quotes, amazing insights and interesting ideas on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere. And I find myself wanting to immediately share what I have heard or read with my friends.

But wait. Is there a danger to this? I’d like to suggest 3:

1.       Amazing truth becomes mundane

When I have read my 50^th 140 character insight or 10^th blog post of the day I have been flooded with words and ideas. Even a few years ago I might come across one or two books or articles a week that might impact my life. Max.

 

And yet now great truths and beautiful things have become, well, normal. I skim over them. I glance at potentially life-changing lessons, evaluate them for a nano-second, and move on to the next thing.

 

It’s constant. And it’s dangerous. Because we are meant to stop and think, ponder and give thanks for amazing truths, not miss them because we are so saturated with great wisdom.

2.       I compare myself to others

‘I couldn’t write something like that’ or ‘I don’t read as widely as them’ can easily follow me reading an impressive tweet or blog post. I might begin to categorise the author as someone worth listening to or not.

Someone to follow or to unfollow.

To like or dislike.

Someone to idolise even, or to denigrate as having little to say to me.

 

So in another way I potentially miss something that I really do need to listen to and learn.

3.       I am too quick to share what I need to think about

We all see this don’t we?

- The live blogs from conferences.
- Linking to that great sermon on selfishness I’ve just heard because I hope my mate Dave sees it and he needs could do with a lesson on selfish.
- Checking how many people have read my latest post or favourite my recent tweet.

Our culture is one which instantly shares any experience, photo or thought to our watching followers and friends. The danger is, we consider everything we receive needs to be shared with others, whether it is a photo of your kid’s first sit on the potty or a great quote from a talk you’ve just heard.

 

But what if that truth, or that moment, is one that you decide to savour just for yourself?

What if God wants to speak to YOU about YOUR selfishness and not Dave’s?

 

So let me challenge you.

Do you fall into any of these traps?

This week take something you would otherwise share with others and just keep it to yourself. Ask God to speak to YOU. And enjoy it.

Oh, and please don’t like, share or retweet this post….unless you think someone else might find it helpful that is…

 

" . ... whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8

 

 

 

What's the point of blogging?

So here it is, my first attempt at a blog at the age of 31.

‘What’s taken you so long’? Some will ask. ‘Why even bother?’ others will reply.

In a world where people are talking and rarely listening, what’s the point of yet another blog?

Here's 4 reasons I've had for not blogging:

1) I've not prioritised it in my schedule - too many other things take up my time let alone blogging!

2) I’ve often see it as a bit narcissistic and introspective. There's a world out there that doesn't often care about what I think!

3) I find myself doubting whether I’d have anything interesting to say anyway.

4) Dealing with my feelings after having one person read your carefully crafted post with no comments is a scary proposition.

So why the change of mind? Here are 4 reasons why I believe in the power of blogging:




1) It forces you to organise your thoughts
I might have opinions on a range of things, for example that Arsenal are the best football team in the league this season, but until I’ve tried (unsuccessfully in this case) to argue it through I’ll continue in my self-delusion and lack the ability to convince others to share my view

2) If you believe in something, then tell others
Anyone who believes anything that matters wants others to share in their discovery, otherwise they don’t really believe it in the first place.

3) It makes you put your neck on the line
Believe something controversial and you’re tempted to keep it quiet rather than risk ridicule, criticism or even worse. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” – today the internet is that hill – the question is, will we put our light on it or hide away?

4) Blogs are receptive as well as expressive communication portals
Rather than just speaking, blogs call us to listen. Discussion of topics you have posted about are an opportunity to learn from others and clarify your beliefs and views. Writing also causes you to take hold of what you have heard, evaluate its truth, and either allow it to shape what you write or how you respond.

What about you? Why do you blog? Should we be focussing our attentions elsewhere? How do you blog effectively?