1. Is there any recognition, respect or approval that someone can give me that will make me feel valued?
2. Is there anything that I can achieve that will make me feel more valued by, and important to, God?
3. Is there any height of ministry effectiveness that will make me feel like my life was significant?
4. Is there any activity that I feel is wasting my time?
5. Is it enough for me to be faithful if that meant being unknown and with little fruit?
6. Do I behave differently towards someone that has influence in Christian circles?
7. Do I desire to be useful to God, more than seeking God?
8. Do I aspire to be respected for my gifting, more than aspiring to glorify the Giver?
9. Do I aspire to sharing in the sufferings of Christ or becoming well respected by my peers?
10. Do I rejoice in the ministry of others, even when I can see holes in their arguments?
11. Am I spending more time face down before God than stood up before an audience?
12. When I am old(er) and looking back on my life, what would make me feel satisfied?

I believe:

• There is nothing I can do that can make God love me more, or less.
• God is more concerned with who we are before him, than what we do for him.
• There is no activity that is not holy, when done for the glory of God.
• That personal godliness is better than powerful gifting.
• That effectiveness for God is not based upon the amount of time we spend in the pulpit.
• That there will always be some people who will like your ministry and others will not.
• Truly effective service is based on what our Master thinks of us, rather than whether our name will be remembered.
• That the most important audience are those that hear the daily sermon we preach as we share our lives over meals, walks and bedtime stories (ie our children).
• That God tests each of our hearts at some point in our life to see if we will take some of the glory for ourselves.
• That if we found more of our security, love, acceptance, and value in God, we would be less concerned about what other people thought of us.
• That every sermon is a sacrifice of praise to God, to be given to him as a pleasing aroma without lifting us up to pride, or casting us down to despair.

Nuff said. Time for some sober self-reflection.