Your weekly roundup of insights and resources to help you get more done for the glory of God.
In Today’s Issue:
- Strategic Faithfulness
- Biblical Decision-Making
- The Light Phone 3
- Navigating Twitter as a Christian
- Quote: C.S. Lewis on Originality
Before we dive in, I wanted to let you know that my book, Well Done: A Strategy for Life Stewardship, is finally available in the Kindle format. So you can stop asking!
Dear steward,
One of the big frameworks I teach about Christian productivity is the concept of “domains of stewardship.”
It’s this idea that if we think of our lives according to the different areas God has given us to steward, we can more strategically approach the work of growing in faithfulness in each area.
Previously, I’ve represented this as a simple pie graph in my books and courses.
But since writing about The Christian’s Keystone Habit last month, I’ve been thinking about how to illustrate this better. Specifically, I’ve been searching for a way to show how a believer in Christ Jesus might create a plan of attack for developing a more faithful life. In other words, which domain should I start with? In what order should I address these areas of life?
Here’s what I came up with:
It’s an arch with the spiritual domain as the keystone. The idea is that if you want to build a life of faithfulness, you should begin with the keystone and work your way downward.
- Develop spiritual habits (prayer, Bible reading, etc.). This is the keystone.
- Create habits for your physical and mental life (e.g., exercise, reading).
- Then, begin working on habits around relationships (date nights, scheduled check-ins with family and friends) and recreation (taking walks, beginning a hobby, etc.)
- Finally, address habits for growing in excellence in your vocation and habits of the household (stewarding your finances, taking care of your things, keeping the home orderly).
Too often, we approach habits from the outside in. We try to start with exercise or finances. But as those indwelt by the Holy Spirit, true transformation begins from the inside and then works outward (See Romans 12:2, for example). That’s why I think this order makes sense from a biblical worldview. We start with the inward and then work our way outward.
I explain exactly how to devise such a plan of attack in this week’s episode, 7 Steps to a Fresh Start: A Strategic Plan for Faithfulness.
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THE ROUNDUP
The best links I found this week
5 Things You Should Know about Biblical Decision-Making (4 mins)
David Boxerman / Ligonier
Decisions, decisions, decisions. We all make a multitude of them just in a single day. Granted, some are seemingly mundane (regular or decaf?), while others are certainly much more life-impacting (Which college shall I attend? Shall I accept this job opportunity? Who shall I choose for my marriage partner?). In all of these, believers want God’s help and guidance. Though not an exhaustive list, here are five things every Christian should consider in making biblically sound decisions.
The Light Phone III
On Tuesday, version three of the minimalist Light Phone was announced. This is a phone which advertises itself based on what it can’t do. Namely, it is designed to not distract you with endless scrolling or steal your data.
Some years back I did a video review of my experience using the Light Phone II. In the end, I noted that though I loved the focus it brought to my life, but due to issues with battery life and a few other quirks I couldn’t recommend it as a daily driver phone.
Light Phone III claims to address all of the issues I had and more. They’ve doubled the battery capacity, added a camera, and swapped the e-ink display for an AMOLED screen which is more more responsive.
I already placed my pre-order, and I’ll post a review once I get it, circa January 2025.
A Christian perspective on the new Twitter / X adult content policy changes (4 mins)
Cam Pak / faith.tools
In May 2024, there was a policy change on adult content, making it acceptable to share adult content [on Twitter].
Yes, adult content.
Cam offers a step-by-step guide for how believers might navigate these concerning changes to X/Twitter’s new policies.
WHAT’S NEW
On Redeeming Productivity
Time Debt and the Busyness Trap (25 mins)
A step-by-step process for becoming a more faithful steward in every area of life.
A DOSE OF WISDOM
Quote of the Week
No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work’s sake, and what men call originality will come unsought.
C.S. Lewis
