{"id":14390,"date":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2007\/07\/30\/day25\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:14","slug":"day25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/day25\/","title":{"rendered":"Honest Inventory"},"content":{"rendered":"

O lord, you have searched me and you know me<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n

\n

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O lord. … <\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Character Check<\/strong>\nWhat key habits do I need to be more spiritually effective?<\/p>\n\n

In Business Terms<\/strong>\nHistorians continue to puzzle over one of the great mysteries of history: how to explain the sixteenth century. In 1560 two institutions dominated Europe, neither of which had existed twenty-five years earlier. The north was dominated by the Calvinist movement, the south by the Jesuit order.<\/p>\n\n

In 1534 Ignatius Loyola gathered the nucleus of his new order and took the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In 1536 John Calvin arrived in Geneva. Twenty-five years later, Europe had been changed. Nothing in the history of the world can compare with the rapid growth and effectiveness of these institutions.<\/p>\n\n

How do you explain it? Both were, by 1560, large institutions, each involving thousands of ordinary people, most of them working alone. Many worked under great pressure and danger, yet there were practically no defections. Very few bad apples. What was the secret?<\/p>\n\n

Now we understand it. Both Calvin and Loyola taught a similar spiritual discipline: that whenever one does anything in a key activity (they were usually spiritual activities, but not entirely), one writes it down, and then one keeps track of what happens. This feedback, whether it’s a Calvinist examination of conscience or the Jesuit spiritual exercise, is the way you quickly find out what you’re good at. And you find out what your bad habits are that inhibit full yield.<\/p>\n\n

—Peter Drucker<\/p>\n\n

Something to Think About<\/strong>\nIt is when we face ourselves and face Christ, that we are lost in wonder, love and praise. We need to rediscover the almost lost discipline of self-examination; and then a reawakened sense of sin will beget a reawakened sense of wonder.\n– Andrew Murray<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

O lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O lord. … Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2677],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3430,3559,3607,4264,4688,5043,5046,5048,5049],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-14390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-peter-drucker","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-application","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-church-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-preaching","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-gifts","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-growth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nHonest 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