A few weeks ago, I read an entry, from Matt Chandler (pastor of the Village Church) and I’ve returned to it several times, because it has made me think much about my life. I recently, posted a link where I mentioned being an expert procrastinator (which sadly I think is an epidemic of my generation, because we have grown up with too much information. Which makes me wonder about future generations!), and I’ve been thinking about things that lead to that and adversely things that lead away from that. Chandler’s post that has made me think often was entitled Inspiration. He shared his inspirations and then a list of things which “robbed me [him] of zeal for Christ and His mission,” which for me was a list that leads to idleness and procrastination. Here are Chandler’s two lists:
Inspirations
- Early mornings and hot coffee
- The writings of John Owen (at the time it was The Mortification of Sin)
- Listening to Lauren sing
- Walks through graveyards (I know this is weird but it reminded me of mortality)
- The book of Hebrews
- Robust dialogue on ecclesiology or missiology
- Sermons by John Piper
- Angst-filled music
Robbers
- Watching too much TV and spending too much time online
- Staying up late for no reason
- Following sports too closely
- Being physically lazy
- Empty conversations (talking for hours about nothing)
- Idleness
Here are mine, after thinking and praying about this for quite some time (you’ll see some parallels):
Inspirations
- A strong cup(s) of coffee
- Preaching and teaching from John Piper and Mark Driscoll
- The Psalms – especially Psalms like 13
- Walking through Prague with good music cranking into my ears, while praying and laying down life, mission, work, relationships and more at my Savior’s feet.
- Big, sweeping epics, that is films
- A dude and his guitar type music
- Good, deep theological convo, that makes me want to read, study and pray more
- Good convos with people that challenge and inspire me, but also who like to listen to me. (is that possible? ;-))
Robbers
- Too much time on chicagobears.com, nfl.com and the endless list of blogs I want to follow
- Relationships lacking depth
- Late nights, that are late for no reason, as opposed to late nights that have great reason!
- Not being productive and getting things off the lists (I find peace in productivity)
- Not finishing things I’ve started (i.e. blog posts, I have so many half written posts)
- “Trying” to relax, instead of just being
I’m sure there are more that I could add to either of those lists, but that is what I’ve been thinking about. What are yours?
(HT – Reid)
