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

3 Things I Learnt From My Technology-Free Day

No email, TV, text messaging, social media…for 24 hours.

Most of you will have clicked here to see how long I lasted so I’ll tell you

10 minutes!

I turned over in bed and checked Facebook  - like I was on autopilot – and I couldn't help commenting on a really incendiary link someone had posted.

After that however, apart from a phone call to the hospital (I’m off with a bad back, see my previous post) the day went well.

So what did I learn from my day?

1.       I’m addicted to it

I constantly look at my phone.

Has this guy responded to my comment on Facebook (not yet)?

Has John replied to my email (come on, I sent it 15 minutes ago!)?

What’s the cricket score (depressing but I still want to know)?

I noticed some simple things on my day off:

Our bathroom echoes (I won’t elaborate)

I heard a woodpecker whilst waiting for Oz and Rob (who were being fashionable late to meet me)

I wondered what I did before my phone – perhaps I used those quiet moments to think, to pray, or to enjoy the silence – now I can fill every waking minute with interesting ‘noise’.

Technology addiction is growing fast; indeed it’s thought to be as strong as craving certain drugs and these 9 facts about social media are amazing.

This experiment has shown me that I am as at risk as anyone, and only by pulling back did I realise my vulnerability.

 

2.       I can’t avoid it

Almost everything I do now is related to my computer.

Be it communicating via email, writing a paper, reading the news or my blogs, using Logos bible tools, e-books….. whilst it has its dangers as I mention above, it is the reality of the world I live in.

And it raises the question

 

'How do I live well as a follower of Jesus in the midst of it all?'

How do I respond to the fact that the pace of my life seems to increase in line with the technology I have?

I think this is a profound challenge to get to grips with.
 

Many have written well on its uses e.g. prayer apps, churches and dangers e.g. idolatry and being a Christian in a digital future highlighting how technology is moulding our identity and its link to loneliness and depression amongst many other things.

I’m sure you have more answers than I have – but its answers we need.

3.       I love it

Many of the podcasts I listen to are funny, informative and I can listen when it best suits me.

Communicating with friends all over the world wherever I am be it in a field nearby or in a refugee camp is amazing. I wouldn't have known that the shaking at 2.43 this morning was an earthquake.

And so I want to embrace it.

I want to learn how to use it more effectively.

In my work with CMF I would love to explore using podcasts and videos (by 2018 79% of the online content consumed by 18-21 year olds will be through video or audio – not plain text!).

And as we seek to share the good news of Jesus - whilst nothing replaces real life on life, face to face discipleship - we have more opportunities than ever to get resources into the hands of people who need them most.

On reflection I have come up with 3 resolutions (you can check with me to see if I keep to them):

 

1.       Have one day a week away from technology

That means a rest from social media and emails for one day

2.       Check my emails just twice and day and never on my phone

This means I’m not feeling enslaved to responding immediately and actually will be much more time-efficient

3.       Do my best to be ‘in the present’ when in company, especially my family

This means I am more likely to listen, enjoy and consider the moment, giving my full attention to people rather than sharing it with someone else 2000 miles away.

 

In other words, no social media until I am genuinely not interfering with a face to face relationship.

 

I hope these resolutions aren’t legalistic but encourage me to be a better steward of what God has given me and to rely on Him to guide me in this

I might even try another ‘fasting day’ - and see if I can last longer than 10 minutes!

 

What do you think? Any tips on how to handle technology?

Image: Shutterstock

 

Desecration and Titillation

by Tim Challies (reproduced with permission from http://www.challies.com/articles/desecration-and-titillation)

Pornography is ubiquitous today; addiction to pornography, especially among men, is equally widespread. Young men are often introduced to pornography long before they are able to understand what it is and what it means. Many a young man’s first awakening to sex and sexuality is by exposure to pornographic sex and nudity. This is sadly, increasingly, the case with women as well.

Some Christians can take a kind of refuge in the fact that so many others share in the struggle. “We are all in this together” can minimize the weight of it. Yet the ubiquity of porn and porn addiction does nothing to lessen the horror of it. I want to ask you a question. But not quite yet. Read on…

 

Desecration and Titillation

There is an inescapable consequence to the fact that human beings bear the image of God: there is nothing God values more than human beings. Bearing God’s image is an extraordinary privilege and brings with it extraordinary worth. Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?” If you were to accumulate the wealth of Bill Gates and add to it the wealth of Solomon, you would barely be scratching the surface of the value of a soul, of a person. Wealth will fade. It will rust and decay and be lost. People are eternal. When all of that wealth is gone, the soul will live on.

God says there is nothing in all creation he values more than human beings. And if this is true, there can be nothing more abhorrent to God than the desecration of human beings. There is nothing that displays greater spite toward God than destroying what he considers most significant. As man rejects being made in God’s image, there necessarily follows a culture of death and desecration.

When you look at pornography you are watching the violation of what God considers more valuable than anything else he has created.

It is a violation of all that person is, for sex is not only skin-deep but soul-deep. You are not only watching it but enjoying it, and not only enjoying it but being titillated by it.

 

God says “I value her above all else because she is made in my image, in my likeness.” You watch her being humiliated and violated and desecrated and all the while fantasize about doing the same.

 

God says “Of all I created there is nothing with more worth and dignity,” and you delight in her desecration and indignity.

 

God says, “I hate it when her body and soul is stained” and you say, “It turns me on.”

I have an important question I want to ask you. But first I want you to consider another consequence of pornography.

 

Porn and the Portrait

There is nothing in all of creation with more value than human beings. There is no message more central than the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection. Long before the cross, God decided that he would embed within humanity a picture, a portrait of the gospel: marriage. The great mystery of marriage, a mystery that could be revealed only after the cross, is that marriage has always been and will always be about the gospel. The relationship of a husband and wife is to be a constant pointer to the relationship of Christ and his church.

Sex is inextricably bound to marriage. The only right expression of sex is within marriage, for only then can the sexual relationship point us to the intimate love of Christ for his people. Sex outside of marriage tells lies about Christ, it tells lies about the church, and makes a complete mockery of the gospel. To tamper with sex is to tamper with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When you look at pornography you are participating in this mocking of the gospel. 

You are watching the violation of the gospel, you are enjoying the violation of the gospel, you are being aroused by it. God says, “I have given you this great picture of Christ and the church” and you watch that portrait be defaced and violated and mocked, and you enjoy it all the while. God says, “The purity of the sexual relationship points you to the purity of the love the Saviour has for you.” And you say, “Right now I need a different kind of salvation from a different saviour. A more satisfying kind, and one Christ did not supply at the cross. I need salvation only this god can provide.”

The Question

Pornography desecrates the one thing in all of creation that God values above all; pornography makes a mockery of that great portrait God has given us of Christ’s faithful, compassionate love. And you who claim to love this God and who profess faith in this Savior, enjoy it, dedicate yourself to it, are titillated by it.

God wants you to know that there is forgiveness, that the same gospel you have mocked offers you forgiveness even for so grave a sin.

But I think God wants you to consider something else. He wants you to consider a warning:

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. … Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him (1 John 3:6,8-10).

Here is what I want to ask you: Do you love pornography enough to go to hell for it?

 

 

 

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

I love tennis court tantrums. John McEnroe gave some of the best. He was a brilliant player, but most associate him with his ranting at poor umpires, unleashing verbal volleys in their direction and (my favourite bit), destroying his racket.

McEnroe's phrase 'You cannot be serious' has gone down in folklore. I use it regularly when being beaten on a tennis court, blaming my racquet, the weather or the balls (not my ability, or lack of it, of course).

But can the phrase can be applied to our generation today?

 

Do we have difficulty engaging in serious thought about the meaning of life and spiritual truths?

 

Instant relief from seriousness

100 years ago serious thought wasn’t a problem. But now we live in an entertainment-driven, satisfy-yourself-in-an-instant culture.

You can watch any film you like. 

Listen to any music you fancy on your smartphone.

All at the touch of a button.

On that 5 minute bus journey home you can update your Facebook status. 

After watching disturbing developments in Ukraine we can flick channels and cheer ourselves up with an episode of Glee or Homeland.

 

This blog post will likely only get few clicks, especially from Facebook, which gives instant relief from the temptation of seriousness, especially posts that talk about it!

 

Serious = boring

People like me who talk of seriousness are equated with being boring. In fact, seriousness has been redefined from its dictionary meaning: 'concerned with grave, important, or complex matters, problems, etc.; weighty'.

"He's just so serious" is a phrase which really means "he's so boring, he's no fun to be around and he won't make you feel good about yourself". 

I’m not saying we should be 'serious' all the time - there are times for lightheartedness, relaxation etc (and even thinking about some ‘serious’ topics can be enjoyable!).

 

Why we should embrace seriousness

Issues of life and death, salvation, redemption and sanctification are weighty, important, complex matters which deserve and demand serious thought and contemplation. 

Great thinkers of years ago like Jonathan Edwards and modern-day authors like John Piper write as they do because they have often looked deeply into God’s word through the hardest of circumstances, asking God difficult questions and not letting go until they have an answer.

Where is our serious thought? When do we ever really get into the Bible, challenge our thinking, and ask God to reveal himself to us over several hours and not just several seconds?

 The Psalmist in Psalm 119 has clearly spent many hours and days considering God’s word. In Titus 2:7 the Apostle Paul urges those of the faith to ‘…show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned…'. The benefits to us as Christians are immeasurable.

 

 

Thriving in an entertainment-addicted culture

Entertainment – the mindless, trashy, superficial kind of stuff.  A drug as addictive and harmful as a class A drug like heroin - dulling the senses, bringing a momentary rush of pleasure or escapism.

 

Yes we can enjoy some of it. I’m a secret fan of Downton Abbey for goodness sake!

But we need to be careful; many Christians are just as addicted as everyone else.

As well as the Bible, consider taking some time out to read something more meaty; perhaps a classic book by someone like JC Ryle or Andrew Murray. Perhaps meet up with someone and discuss it, and learn how to balance enjoying our culture whilst not selling out to it.

Engaging with an entertainment-addicted culture

We need to use imaginative and relevant methods of reaching people where they are. Media such as blogs, podcasts, television and radio are essential to this. Keeping up with popular culture to connect with people where they are at is useful. Let's not let this be primarily for our entertainment and escapism, but with a strategic, focussed goal of reaching people for Christ.

 

John McEnroe was (and still is) a great player. His success came from serious dedication. His commentary success today similarly comes from seriously studying the game.

Yes, he is a wit. Yes, his tantrums could be funny. But he had to be serious to succeed.

 

Can you be serious?

 

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