The Key to Keeping First Things First

A big welcome to everyone who signed up for Book Shepherd, Twitter Tips, Negativity Fast and the RevTrev.com Newsletter. Thank you all for your questions. I think I may need to start answering them in podcast because I am behind answering some. I’m sorry.

Quick heads up for those on the Book Shepherd list – I’m setting up a new site and will be separating it from RevTrev.com. Readers of the RevTrev Newsletter will still get Book Tips, but I won’t be sending this newsletter to people who download the One-Page Book Business Plan. So if you want to keep getting the RevTrev Newsletter, you’ll need to download “I Don’t Have Time to Be Busy!”. 

The Key to Keeping First Things First

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” This is a quote that seems to be most attributed to Stephen Covey, but his book was first published in 1987 and I’ve heard preachers using it well before that.

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” There something about that kind of logic that makes me smile.

What are the main thing for you?

Before you go all spiritual and ruin this exercise, I want to you stop and think. Do you do what you do because it’s important to you and your personal development or do you do what you do because it just “needs to get done”?

Now when we do something with all everything do whatever we do becomes important at least to our personal development. Brother Lawrence called it “practicing the presence of God.” He focussed on God’s presence no matter what he was doing. You can read more about that here: http://revtrev.com/life-above-the-negativity/practice-the-presence-day-37/

Paul told us, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Colossians 3:23 (NLT)

And that really is the key to keeping first things first. When we do what we do as if it’s for God instead of trying to please someone or live up to their expectations life is better. This is assuming that the main thing is to keep God the main thing.

Now you might think I’m trying to motivate myself to finish up our taxes today…and you’re probably right. I have stacks of receipts littering my office floor as if I was training a puppy. I’ve already total most of what I need to total – every year I tell myself I should do weekly updates and every year I do it for a few months and so every year I have stacks of receipts on my floor. And then I start philosophizing about things like the main thing.

How do you keep the main thing the main thing? Tell me in the comments

Mind If I Pray For You?

Lord, you told us to not worry more than you told us we need to love. It’s so hard to worry when we keep the main thing the main thing. Help us to do that. Help us all to do what we do to become more like you and stop doing what we do to keep up appearances or to please someone that we may or may not even really like. Encourage us to practice your presence in all we do.

Upcoming on RevTrev

I mentioned above that I’m moving the Book Shepherd page to its own site. I’m blown away with the number of people who have downloaded the One-Page Book Business Plan. I can’t believe 6,581 people have Stumbled the page and over 200 people have shared it on LinkedIn. How long has it been up? A few weeks I think. That just doesn’t happen to pages on RevTrev.com.

I want to remove it from the RevTrev.com brand so it can become it’s own brand. Why is this important? Every day I get comments and emails from people who call me their “pastor.” That’s incredibly honoring but brings it’s own issues. Didn’t Jesus tell his disciples, “Freely you’ve received, freely give?”

Sure, He was talking about healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons and raising the dead. For the record, I’ve never charge for any of those things. (I haven’t yet seen the dead raised, but when it happens I don’t think I’ll invoice.) Still, there is an expectation in Christian circles that knowledge should be free.

Well, the knowledge I have around planning, writing, editing, designing, printing, distributing and marketing books has cost me a lot to get. Sure I’ve made money along the way but I’ve also saved other people time, worries and money. Book Shepherd needs to have it’s own brand because my target prospect doesn’t need to “CBA Christian” (If you’re a writer you know what that means).

Anyway, stay in touch. I’m excited about this pending launch…as soon as I finish my taxes.

Featured Discussion

• Perspective – How to Stop Thinking About Finances From A Place of Scarcity 
• Practical God Talk – The 7 Great Church Councils 
• Q&A – What Do I Need to Know About the Nature of God?
• Social Media Tips – How to Create A Warm Sign Up List on Twitter
• Book Shepherd – 13 Places to Promote Your Book Locally
• RevTrev Writes – Chapter 2 – Part 1 The Emergent by Trevor Lund 
• Ministry Coaching Tips- How To Double Your Efforts in Ministry 
• Counselling Corner – What Does it Mean if I’m Called a Burden Bearer? 

On Last Thing

I’m enjoying all the comments on RevTrev.com. This community is keeping me on my toes and encouraging me as they encourage each other. I want to say “Thank you” to everyone and mention the top commentators so far this month. Sorry I don’t have an easy way to link to all your sites. :

1. John M.
2. Charlotte
3. David Guion
4. Lesley
5. Philip Quintas
6. Shari England
7. Erin

Keep those comments coming, and why not consider doing a guest post? I promote it across my social network every day it’s up, give it a prominent place on the front page for a week where it’s seen by over 50,000 and mention it in this newsletter. Contact me today. http://revtrev.com/write-for-revtrev/