Question 86: Since then we are delivered from our misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works?

Answer: Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered us by his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spirit, after his own image; that so we may testify, by the whole of our conduct, our gratitude to God for his blessings, and that he may be praised by us; also, that every one may be assured in himself of his faith, by the fruits thereof; and that, by our godly conversation [lifestyle] others may be gained to Christ.

Note a few things.

First, good works are a means by which we imitate, and thus glorify, Christ. We have been renewed “after his own image,” and doing good works reflects his image, and thus glorifies him. Christ was mighty in word and deed (Luke 24:19), and thus it is essential that we reflect Christ in our actions as well as our words.

Second, note that we are to testify to the greatness of Christ “by the whole of our conduct.” You don’t just testify to the greatness of Christ in words, as critical as that is. You must also testify to his greatness in all of your conduct. You not only may, you must!

Third, our good works are a form of worship. We do them in gratitude to God and out of love for him, and offer them to him in our doing of them. That’s what worship is. And God wants to be worshipped in the whole of our lives (Romans 12:1-2), not just our words. This makes our good works — that is, all the things we do in faith, even tying our shoes — intrinsically meaningful.

Fourth, one result of living wise lives filled with good works is that others will be won to Christ. Good works are not valuable simply as a means to bringing others to faith; they are valuable in themselves (see above points). But they do also have the effect of supporting our testimony to the gospel, and others will come to faith as a result (that’s the meaning of the very odd and hard to understand passage in Ephesians 5:7-14).

So, once again, we see that the Reformed tradition was holistic. The dichotomy between doing good/living wise lives and preaching the gospel does not exist in the theology of the Reformation. The ministry of the word goes to the root, but testifying to the greatness and love of God in our deeds is equally essential. 

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1. Avoid working in your weaknesses if at all possible.

2. If you can’t, then seek to become competent in your areas of weakness. You won’t become extraordinary in areas of weakness, but competence is sufficient.

3. Continue to spend the most time sharpening and harnessing your strengths. This is where your contribution will shine. As long as you are competent in your weaknesses, they won’t detract and your strengths will stand out and make an extraordinary contribution.

An example (a slightly risky one since I’m not huge into basketball, but you will get the point): Let’s say you are a basketball player and you are great at making baskets but pretty bad at getting rebounds. You need to become solid at getting rebounds when they come your way, so you don’t do harm. But your focus should be on putting yourself in a position to take shots, not get rebounds, if that’s where you make an incredible contribution.

And here’s an example of avoiding your weaknesses altogether: if you are a great quarterback, it doesn’t matter if you are terrible at defense. Don’t play defense. This is so obvious as to be completely undisputed.

Why, then, do we feel like there is some sort of virtue in focusing on our weaknesses in our work?

Seek to contribute where you can make the greatest contribution.

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Ministries of Mercy

We have done a good job of teaching that every believer is a minister and to be a witness. But we haven’t done a good job of teaching that every Christian is to be engaged in mercy ministries. We have almost completely ceded this work to secular agencies and authorities.

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First, it depends on what kind of work you are doing. For some kinds of work, it doesn’t hinder your productivity at all and makes it more pleasant. Obviously.

Second (and this is the important point), I’ve found that for intensive work that requires focus and great concentration, listening to music keeps me from getting into the zone and thus causes my work to take a lot longer. Further, there are some breakthroughs that probably don’t happen because of the fact that you aren’t able to concentrate fully — thus decreasing the quality of your work.

This happens in spite of intentions, and you largely have no control over it. In other words, even if you have high energy and are ready to get into the zone, music will often prevent it from happening.

This applies only to music with words, and there are of course some exceptions. But in the main, I’ve found that if I need to get dialed in and concentrate, music with words is a big stumbling block.

That’s what I’ve found. What have you found?

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1. Starting is often the hardest thing

The best way to start is to just start. That is, don’t wait for a special burst of energy or insight — though, when those things do come, seize them to their max.

2. You have to jump start yourself in the moment of performance

That’s a quote a read somewhere a few years ago. It’s a helpful reminder. When you just start (point 1) and don’t have the burst of energy or creativity, you don’t simply go into your writing cold. You jump start yourself, like starting a car in a freezing Minnesota winter.

To jump start yourself, there are many things you can do. Pray, read some of the Scriptures, do jumping jacks (to get your physical energy up), read a few pages in an author you find inspiring like Seth Godin, review your notes, or do a number of other things. To “just start” doesn’t mean you don’t warm up.

3. Don’t bury the lead

Lead with your most important points rather than starting with something less relevant or irrelevant in an attempt to build up to your most important point. Burying the lead is one of the greatest temptations in writing.

The one exception: John Piper does a great job in many of his books of creating a problem and then resolving it. That’s helpful and interesting and memorable. In those cases, the most important point is the resolution that comes after the problem has developed, which is typically half way through the chapter or so. But even in these cases, you need to start with something super relevant and helpful; the lead in this case should often be the interesting problem you are raising.

More could be said, but these are the top ones that come to mind right now.

(By the way, I call these “advanced” because, although you can easily know these things right from the start, you don’t truly get them until you’ve been through it!)

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1. Concise
2. Clear
3. Communicated
4. Compelling
5. Contagious

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From the earliest days of the Acton Institute, Charles W. “Chuck” Colson was a staunch supporter and dear friend to many. On this page, we have gathered a variety of content including speeches, interviews with Acton publications and multimedia. As Prison Fellowship Ministries and the Colson Center put it, in a joint statement,  “Chuck’s life is a testimony to God’s power to forgive, redeem, and transform.”

The page also has an excellent, 8.5 minute video the Acton Institute did on the life of Chuck Colson.

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Their findings were very interesting. Here’s how Ferrazzi summarizes them:

The term originated in an IBM study that sought to identify the traits of their most high-impact employees. Turns out that ambition alone is mediocre; ambition plus intellectual humility is the winning combination.

Read the whole thing.

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The Reformers were remarkably holistic, caring about all dimensions of the human person. The spiritual is most foundational, but this doesn’t mean we are to be unconcerned about the other dimensions of human need and activity. Further, they weren’t only concerned about private spirituality, but the renewal of society as well.

Here are two quotes that display this.

Martin Luther:

When asked what he would do if the world would end tomorrow said, “I would plant a tree today.”

John Calvin:

“God has filled my mind with zeal to spread his kingdom and to further the public good.” (Institutes, ed., John T. McNeill, vol. 1, p. 4)

And, following in the legacy of the Reformers, Jonathan Edwards wrote:

And as the spirit of charity, or Christian love, is opposed to a selfish spirit, in that it is merciful and liberal so it is in this, also, that it disposes a person to be public-spirited. A man of a right spirit is not a man of narrow and private views, but is greatly interested and concerned for the good of the community to which he belongs, and particularly of the city or village in which he resides, and for the true welfare of the society of which he is a member.

God commanded the Jews that were carried away captive to Babylon, to seek the good of that city, though it was not their native place, but only the city of their captivity. His injunction was (Jer. 29:7), “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it.”

And a man of truly Christian spirit will be earnest for the good of his country, and of the place of his residence, and will be disposed to lay himself out for its improvement.

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Here’s part of it:

Before his conversion to Christianity, Colson was described as an aggressive political mastermind who drank heavily, chain smoked, and smeared opponents. He served as special counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 before he was indicted on Watergate-related charges, which led to a 7-month prison term. After his conversion experience, he published Born Again, helping popularize the term many evangelicals use to self-identify.

Colson’s public commitment to his faith drew initial skepticism from those who wondered whether he was attempting to profit from a conversion narrative. Criticism faded over time with his 30-plus years of commitment to prison ministry.

“The most important takeaway is that he was a specimen of God’s amazing grace, one of the most remarkable in modern times,” said Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. “Over time, he proved to the whole world that this is the real thing.”

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• iPhone apps (opens in iTunes)
• iPad apps (opens in iTunes)

What I use:

• Keeping track of notes/ideas: Evernote
• Capturing quick notes when Evernote feels too cumbersome: Apple Notes (native on the iPhone and iPad — super easy to use)
• Calendar: iCal (native on the iPhone and iPad)
• Action and project lists: OmniFocus or Things
• Action lists, as a helpful supplement: Reminders (native on the iPhone and iPad)

And worth taking a closer look at:

• Things (I used this for a time)
• Remember the Milk
• Do it (Tomorrow): Looks interesting
• Calvetica Calendar: Looks intriguing
• PlainText: Looks as simple as Apple’s Notes app, with the added benefit that you can actually organize things
• MindNode: For mindmapping. Currently I use MindJet MindManager

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One of my pet peeves is pens that are annoying to use. Some pens skip a lot, while other pens leak out too much ink. So a few years ago I bought a bunch of different kinds of pens and compared them to find a pen that I actually like to use.

Here’s what I recommend: Uni-ball Vision Elite Stick Micro Point Roller Ball Pens, 3 Black Ink Pens. (You can also get them in a 24-pack.)

If you have these, there is no need for any other pen. They are awesome.

For more on why pens matter, the single most important rule in choosing pens, and the qualities of a good pen, see my post on Recommended Pens.

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A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs’s ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years.

By the way, if you aren’t a subscriber to Fast Company, you need to be. It gives the best insight on the new world of work, and shows how work is not supposed to be boring or constrained.

You won’t regret subscribing, and there’s no excuse not to. And, you need to subscribe to the actual physical magazine, because it is much more fun than just reading it online (and it’s easier to remember, in my view at least). Plus, with any print subscriptions you now get their iPad app so you can read it digitally each month if you prefer.

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