Jan
01
2010
10 Questions for 2010
It’s the New Year and that means it’s time for resolutions. Of course, resolutions can be bad if you make vows you don’t keep or set standards for yourself without relying on the gospel to change you and forgive you. But if done in the right way I find resolutions a helpful way to clarify priorities and goals.
Recently, in our pastors group, we decided to be more precise in how we want to be held accountable. So we each set off to write a series of questions. My ten questions are below. They reflect my own weaknesses and temptations. If you are one of the three pastors I meet with every other week, you better ask me these questions. If you belong to University Reformed Church and like to pray for your pastor, feel free to use these questions to guide you in your prayers for me. For everyone else, feel free to tailor these questions in whatever ways might be helpful.
1. Am I spending time slowly reading God’s word and memorizing Scripture?
2. Am I having consistent, focused, extended times of prayer, including interceding for others?
3. Am I disciplined in my use of technology, in particular not getting distracted by emails and blogging in the evening and on my day off?
4. Am I going to bed on time?
5. Am I eating too much?
6. Have I exercised in the last week?
7. Am I patient with my kids or am I angry with them when they disobey or behave in childish ways?
8. When at home, am I “fully present” for my wife and family or are my mind and energy elsewhere?
9. Am I making sermon preparation a priority in my week or am I doing other less important things first?
10. Have I done anything out of the ordinary to cherish and help my wife?
19 Comments
[...] on fingertips again. But I didn’t get down to any reflection as I’d hoped. There were several lists of questions posted out there that I thought I might attempt to answer, but they seemed a little [...]
Kev,
Your last point reminded me of advice I recently offered the men of Colleg Church. It’s titled “How to Romance Your Wife, Italian Style” (below). It’s a crowed pleaser. Something to think about for Tricia’s birthday! CC
You need to do this at least once a year (twice is better). Here are the steps—very simple.
1.Get babysitter, remove kids from the house.
2.Suggest that your wife go shopping and get herself something nice. Give her a specific time when she should return.
3.Set dining room table: flowers, candles, and Andrea Bocelli playing in background
4.Put on masculine looking apron. Trust me on this. Women love men in uniform and also in an apron (providing it’s not a wimpy, frilly type).
5.Make Italian sauce. Following is a nice recipe
2 lbs. meat (Italian sausage or ground beef)
2 lg. cans (16 oz.) tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. basil
5 c. water
1 c. red wine (very important)
2 tbsp. sugar (important)
1 lg. onion, chopped
Olive oil
Brown the meat and add to a large saucepan. Sauté the onion and garlic in a little olive oil and then add to saucepan. Combine rest of ingredients with those in saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 2-4 hours. Serve over your favorite pasta. Can add a few sautéed mushrooms to sauce, if so desired.
6.While sauce is simmering, go to Trader Joes and pickup whatever else looks good—e.g., tomato and mozzarella antipasto, rice balls, stuffed mushrooms, Italian bread, cannoli dessert, chocolate truffles, etc. And be sure to buy imported pasta.
*Note—I know what you’re thinking-isn’t this cheating? Certainly not! Your wife will be so jazzed that you actually made sauce that you’re entitled to get a little help on the rest.
7. Boil pot of water, sprinkle in some salt, cook pasta until it’s ready (after a few minutes periodically eat a fork-full until you’re satisfied)
8. Greet wife with the apron on (make sure you have smeared a little sauce on the apron to demonstrate that you were really into it).
9. If you have an aptitude at writing poetry, go for it. If not, rip something off of the internet. Don’t start with “Roses are Red…”. Present your poem at the start of dessert.
10. When finished, do the dishes.
Thanks for these challenging questions.
Here’s another “Ten Questions” for the New Year from my friend, Bill Welte of America’s Keswick. He posted this on Facebook, so, I copied and pasted it in case the Facebook link won’t work.
Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/bill-welte/happy-new-year/235312625839
Here’s the text:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Ten Questions to Ask As You Begin the New Year
“Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5)
I received this great list of questions from Dr. Don Whitney helping us “consider our ways” as we begin the new year. Dr. Whitney is the author of Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life (NavPress).
I will share these ten today and then give you 20 additional questions to ponder tomorrow:
1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
Take some time today to prayerfully read through the questions and then write out your answers. I share the second set of questions tomorrow. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK
Digging Deeper into God’s WORD: Proverbs 1; Genesis 1-3; Matt. 1
Dig This Quote: Beware of judgmental and critical people – especially those who treat you nice, for he who gossips to you will gossip about you
Latte Links (1/1/10)…
The first edition of Latte Links this year as I sit poolside at the Holiday Inn Express in Valparaiso, IN. Radar Online: Oops! Wikipedia Pronounced Rush Limbaugh Dead (HT: News Reel Blog). His hospitalization is bringing out the hate brigade. Jan…
As far as points that hit me like an index finger to the chest were #3 and #10.
Ouch.
Thanks for the thought-provoking post. Much appreciated Kevin.
[...] Kevin DeYoung is one of my favorite new authors and blog writers. He has prepared a list of 10 questions for 2010 that his accountability partners have been challenged to ask him as he progresses through this new [...]
Thanks for sharing this list. I definitely need to get to writing some questions myself.
[...] Pastoral Helps – 2/1/10 January 2, 2010 gjware Leave a comment Go to comments On a new year’s theme Kevin DeYoung provides 10 questions pastors can ask themselves throughout the year. [...]
Wow, I just printed out this list and will be taping it to my desk and sending to my accountability partner. The practical nature of these questions reminds me that Christ is LORD of all my life, not just the ’spiritual’.
[...] it is time for resoultions… I found posts on the subject from Kevin DeYoung (read it here) and David Powlison (read it here) to be very helpful. As Powlison points out, the most important, [...]
Ditto for me; but since I’m not a pastor I should probably translate #9 to something else. Man, that’s a list to print out, put in somewhere more prominent; like on the dash board of your car, or the wall your office / cubicle.
Kevin,
It seems that you wrote these specifically for me. If I were to write down 10 things that I needed the most work on, this would be my list.
[...] read more convicting questions go to http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2010/01/01/10-questions-for-2010/ Published [...]
“Doing something out of the ordinary” for anyone is an amazing resolution.
i like that one!
David R.
Red Letter Believers Blog
http://www.redletterbelievers.com
“Salt and Light”
[...] DeYoung’s 10 questions for healthy pastoral [...]
[...] Kevin DeYoung offers his own 10 Questions for 2010. [...]
[...] 10 Questions for 2010 [...]
[...] Posted by Mrs. D under Thinkabouts Leave a Comment Kevin DeYoung over at the Gospel Coalition listed 10 questions for 2010 that are worth pondering. Here I’ve listed a few of them to [...]