The Key to a Successful 2013: Think Practices, not Products!

If I could give you one key to a successful 2013, it would be this: Think practices, not products!

Everyone is making new years resolutions right now, and that is a good thing, not a bad thing. But make sure that your resolution takes the form of a practice, not a product. Let me explain the difference.

Here are some examples of product oriented new years resolutions:

In 2013 I will write and publish a book!

In 2013 I will lose 35 pounds!

In 2013 I will learn to speak a new language!

In 2013 I will save $20,000!

In 2013 I will memorize 100 verses of Scripture!

All of these are great goals, and if any one of them is on your list, you are definitely thinking in the right direction. In 2013 I believe God wants to move us forward in places where we feel stuck, where little or no progress has been made. We need to think big this year! In 2013 its go hard or go home!

But their are three distinct problems with product-oriented resolutions, and these problems are the reason why most people fail to accomplish their resolutions. If you understand these problems and shape your resolutions differently, I believe you cannot help but succeed in all you do!

Problem #1: Product-oriented resolutions are so daunting! We tend to set huge goals for ourselves, and every day we awaken to this huge task before us. Lose 35 pounds. Every morning I wake up to the scale, and I'm confronted by the fact that I still haven't lost 35 pounds! Product-oriented resolutions delay my sense of accomplishment for months into the year!

Problem #2: Product-oriented resolutions lead to discouragement and/or embarrassment. What if you don't lose 35 pounds? What if you only lose 25 pounds? 25 pounds is a clear win! You've changed your life in an incredibly powerful way, but it still feels like a loss because you fell short of your goal.

Problem #3: Product-oriented resolutions are short-term, and thus short-lived. To continue the weight-loss example, what happens after you lose the 35 pounds? Your only goal was to get it off. Now that you've accomplished that, are you going to go crazy with food again? People lose weight on diets all the time, but the weight doesn't stay off because the goal was to procure the product of a certain weight-loss number, rather than to establish a life-style that includes the practices that lead inexorably to weight-loss and long-term health.

Now let's look at the same group of resolutions from a practice-orientation, rather than a product-orientation:

In 2013 I will write for one hour every day!

In 2013 I will exercise at least four times a week!

In 2013 I will spend 30 minutes a day studying Spanish!

In 2013 I will save 15% of my gross income every single month!

In 2013 I will meditate on a verse of Scripture every day!

All of these practices lead to your desired products, but because the focus is on the practices, rather than the products, your heart and mind are protected from being overwhelmed by the immensity of the task of producing a product like a book, or learning a new language. Bettering your life is not about amassing more products, it is about developing the practices that make you feel good about yourself when you go to bed at night. So stop thinking about what you want to produce, and start thinking about what you will practice in 2013. Focus on those practices and get em right, and you'll produce more products than you ever thought you could possibly produce. Its called bearing fruit!

P.S. My new book, A Path Through Mighty Waters, will help you tremendously with the last resolution! :-) To buy it on Google Play, click here. To buy it on Amazon, click here.

The 21st Century Reformation

In the 16th century Martin Luther emphasized the biblical theme of the priesthood of all believers as a critique of what he saw as an overemphasis upon the professional priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. Luther contended that from a biblical perspective, every believer in Jesus Christ is a priest, not just the professional clergy. Inspired by Luther, William Tyndale set out to translate the Bible into English, having devoted his life to the prospect of making the Scriptures accessible to the common man. In a famous encounter with a group of priests whom Tyndale rebuked for placing the words of the pope above those of Scripture, Tyndale declared: "...if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!" (see Foxes Book of Martyrs, chapter XII)

While nearly 500 years have passed since Luther tacked the 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral, it is now time for a new reformation! Tyndale (and others in the tradition of Wycliff) sought to make the bible accessible to the masses by translating it into the language of the common man. That has proven to be a highly successful pursuit, as now bible translations abound, and anyone with internet access has access to as many free bible translations as their hearts desire! But my contention is that we have not gone far enough in providing the means for equipping the average believer with the weapons that comprise the arsenal of the average pastor.

Seminaries and bible colleges are for those who are called to full-time ministry, right? But see, there's the problem right there! We are all full-time ministers! Every believer in Jesus Christ is called to the ministry, not just pastors and teachers! Ministry is not just an event, not just something that happens within the four walls of the local church; ministry is everything that every believer does in the world as a representation of Christ. Just as we expect pastors to be serious about preparing themselves for the sacred task of declaring the gospel to the people of God and rightly dividing the word of truth, so we must begin to expect every member of the body of Christ to get serious about preparing themselves to bear witness to the resurrection and glory of Jesus Christ in the work place...in the realms of education, of politics and government, of arts and media, of family, of entertainment, of science and medicine, etc. Every believer is called with a holy calling, and that means that we must get serious about preparing every believer to fulfill that holy calling!

The problem is that the traditional routes take too much time and money. A seminary education can cost $60k or more, and typically requires three years of full-time study or more. We cannot expect every believer to drop everything and go to seminary, and in fact such a decision would not be wise. Seminary will continue to be a viable option for those who are called to professional/vocational ministry within the local church, and/or those called to be biblical scholars and theologians. Seminary is not the problem; the problem is that there is no viable alternative for those called to serve in non-church related realms. If such an alternative existed...a way of providing the core content of a seminary education to every believer in a digestible, understandable, and practically applicable package, it would spell the beginning of a new reformation...a 21st century reformation!

What if every Christian took their calling seriously? What if Christians in the secular workplace saw themselves as the pastors and teachers divinely appointed to serve there? I know, this type of rhetoric is already widely used in the body of Christ. But I still don't believe it is really taken seriously. Pastors are expected to pray fervently and study the Scriptures intensely as they prepare themselves to bring the word of God to bear upon the people of God. But how many marketplace Christians prepare themselves with the same intensity before going to work in the morning? Christians in the marketplace tend to say that they see themselves as full-time ministers, but they rarely take that calling seriously enough to take the time to arm themselves with the accoutrements of the task set before them. Workplace evangelism tends to take the form of simplistic spiritual platitudes and invitations to come to my church on Sunday! "Come hear my pastor preach," is not what Jesus meant when he commanded us to make disciples of all nations! What if every member of the church had just as much depth in the word as the pastor? Now that would constitute a real reformation that actualizes the priesthood of all believers!

We are a kingdom of priests! But we've got to get ourselves ready! We've got to take our calling seriously! Its not enough to sit under a pastor who knows the word intimately; you've got to know the word intimately yourself! And you've got to prepare yourself to give a reason for the hope that you have to anyone who asks! Its time for the church of the 21st century to wake up from its slumber, and when that day comes every member of every church will rise up and take their place! This is my passion in a nutshell: If the Lord spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than the average pastor!

Are you ready to take your place? Let Abba University start you on your journey! We can provide you with the core content of a seminary education without the complexity of technical research papers and obscure academic reading! We equip our online classrooms with high quality HD video lectures that are deep enough to challenge you, yet simple enough to engage you, and our courses require as little as one hour per week! And here's the best part: the cost to you is only $95 per course! 

Don't wait another day: register today and let Abba U empower you to take your place in the 21st century reformation!

Registration closes on December 14th at 9pm
Class begins on December 17th
www.abba-u.org