Personal management involves being attentive to how we are doing in each of the following areas:
- Our relationship with the living God. Are we abiding in Christ? Do we remain yoked, growing in intimacy with the Father? Are we still in love with Jesus? Are we responsive to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit?
- Our relationships with our spouse and children. Are we moving toward greater closeness and trust? Do we view our spouses and children as the first recipients of our Christlike love? Or do they always get the leftovers?
- Our grasp of God’s Word. Are we increasingly at home in the Bible? Are we continually learning more, submitting our thinking, feeling, and experience to the gracious scrutiny of the Lord?
- Our level of prayer. Are we more mature in our prayers? Do we have the conviction that prayer is a major task? Does prayer have an increasingly deeper hold on us? Are we making prayer our first priority? Are we able to help others move into the various aspects of prayer?
- Our walk in the Spirit. Are we learning to yield to the Spirit in our everyday situations? Are we learning to trust him more? Have we grown in our ability to discern where and how he is leading? Are we learning to operate in his power?
- Our confrontation of sin. Have we come to terms with its reality? Do we see how pervasive it is? Do we understand how serious sin is? Are we becoming more resolved and better equipped to resist its lure?
- Our recognition of spiritual opposition. Can we discern the Enemy’s presence and practice? Can we spot his tricks? Are we learning in Christ to stand against the Devil?
- Our dealings with past wounds. Do past events sometimes rise up and wreak havoc, or have we been able to forgive those who have hurt us? Have we yielded yesterday’s hurts and fears to the healing of Jesus? Are we allowing the Father to fill us so we no longer have to be motivated by our own sense of deprivation?
- Our sexuality. Are we experiencing greater freedom from the sexual deviance to which we are all prone? Are our relationships with the opposite sex directed by the Holy One? Has our central drive for human intimacy been reshaped by the renewal of our minds?
- Our intellect. Are we growing intellectually? Are we increasingly making every thought captive to Christ? Are we able to resist the pressure to conform to the world?
- Our integrity. Do we mean what we say and say what we mean? Do we resist the temptation to rely on the ways of the flesh to accomplish a spiritual work? Do we fulfill our promises?
- Our motivation. Have we sorted out our inner drives? Do we know whose reputation we are seeking to enhance? Is it clear whose kingdom we are seeking to advance? Can we see to whom we desire to attract people?
- Our basis for authority. Do we continually submit to the lordship of Christ? Are we exercising the authority he gives in his way through the way of servanthood?
- Our identity. Do we know who we are in Christ? Have we embraced our new identity? Are we close to others who are?
- Our emotions. Have we learned to monitor our anger? Have we faced up to our underlying fears? Have we come to terms with inner pain, jealousy, grief, and so on? Have we learned to be honest about our feelings without destabilizing our roles as leaders or undermining our relationships with others?
- Our perspective. Have we developed a grateful heart, which is a key indicator of health? What flavors our speech and spirit most: complaining and grumbling, or thoughtful praise?
- Our stewardship. Have we surrendered control of our time, money, and spiritual gifts to the Lord? Are we seeing God’s call on our lives expand into new areas?
- Our Sabbath rest. Are we following the Manufacturer’s specifications—that we operate on a rhythm: six days of creative work followed by one day of worshipful rest and re-creation? Or are we letting the busyness of the unredeemed world set our agenda?
- Our character. Are we becoming more like Jesus? Is the fruit of the Spirit becoming more evident in us? Are we treating people the way he does? Are we developing more humility and compassion?
Personal management means being well (alive in Christ), serving well (alive in Christ), and finishing well (alive in Christ). Our call to ministry is a noble calling—a glorious life and work that can both thrill and terrify us. We are stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1), handlers of sacred revelation. The one thing required of stewards is trustworthiness. As the salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt. 5:13-16), we must guard against losing our saltiness. At the same time we must fan the flame within us.
Darrell W. Johnson; Leadership Handbooks of Practical Theology, Volume 3, Leadership and Administration; Personal Management; pp 4-10.
Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Book House Company, copyright © 1994.
