Weekly Wisdom [05.25.18]

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Need some Weekly Wisdom?  Here are my favorite resources of the week.

VERSE OF THE WEEK

For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it [1 Cor. 4:7]?

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Finish by Jon Acuff

“…the sneakiest obstacle to meeting your goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We’re our own worst critics, and if it looks like we’re not going to do something right, we prefer not to do it at all. That’s why we’re most likely to quit on day two, “the day after perfect”—when our results almost always underper­form our aspirations…

If you’re tired of being a chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this time that will work. Or you can give yourself the gift of done.”

  1. The less that people aimed for perfect, the more productive they became (4).
  2. My theory was that people, especially chronic starters like you and me, overestimate what they can accomplish in a set period of time (23).
  3. If someone gets mad at you for saying no, they just confirmed you were supposed to say that in the first place (43).

PODCAST OF THE WEEK

Reflections on the Seashells Sermon, 18 Years Later – by Ask Pastor John

On May 20, 2000, eighteen years ago today, you preached the famous “seashells sermon” in Memphis. Pastor John, I know you’ll never forget that moment. You were preaching outside to forty thousand college students at the fourth Passion Conference, then called OneDay. It became, of course, one of your most influential sermons. There you introduced us to the world of Bob and Penny and their seashell collection, and pled with the students: “Don’t waste your life.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

There is another that has made you, and preserves you, and provides for you, and on whom you are dependent: and He has made you for himself, and for the good of your fellow-creatures, not only for yourself.  -Jonathan Edwards

SONG OF THE WEEK

“Before the Day” is a song written years ago by Michael O’Brien about having time with the Lord in the morning.  Topic that few songs are written about and that is why I love going back to it.

POST OF THE WEEK

The Wrath of God Poured Out – The Humiliation of the Southern Baptist Convention by Al Mohler

“The last few weeks have been excruciating for the Southern Baptist Convention and for the larger evangelical movement. It is as if bombs are dropping and God alone knows how many will fall and where they will land.

America’s largest evangelical denomination has been in the headlines day after day. The SBC is in the midst of its own horrifying #MeToo moment.”

TIP OF THE WEEK

Write It Down and Save It Somewhere.  One of the things that has helped me in recent years is writing down just about everything I use in Evernote.  I used to preach sermons and have notes on random pieces of paper and could never reuse them.  My disorganization caused me to lose a lot of helpful information that could have been used again.

I had solid content that could have been used in another sermon, blog post, counseling email, etc.  The discipline of just writing things down makes you a more efficient and effective writer and ensures that you have a growing bank of material to share with others when the unexpected opportunities arise.