• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection It Ain’t About the Numbers – 6 Thoughts Toward Staying on Track

It Ain’t About the Numbers – 6 Thoughts Toward Staying on Track

Posted on May 5, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments


NumbersI have found that in having an on-line presence, it is easy to get caught up in a numbers game. How many followers do I have? How may hits have there been on the blog? What is my blog ranking?

In our connected world, we have what seems like an infinite supply of data at our disposal. There are scores and rankings for every aspect of social media and the blogosphere.

With all the information available, it is easy to get overwhelmed and become distracted from the original purpose for having an on-line presence. Not only can I become overwhelmed and distracted, I can waste a lot of time comparing myself with others.

My purpose in having an on-line presence is to encourage people to begin and then deepen their relationship with God. To stay true to that purpose, I came up with 6 reminders to keep me from being consumed by an unprofitable focus on numbers.

  1. I am not doing this to build a personal following. I am doing this to bring honor to Jesus Christ. See 1 Corinthians 10:31.
  2. When I compare myself to others, I am distracted from my mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ, not disciples of me. See Matthew 28:19-20
  3. I am called to please God and be in obedience to him and not be concerned with pleasing men. See 1 Thessalonians 2:4. By seeking to please men, I may compromise what God wants me to write.
  4. I must focus on providing worthwhile content rather than trying to manipulate people into a response. See 1 Corinthians 2:2-5
  5. I must be animated by a love of God and a genuine agape love of other people. Without that love, I’m just making noise. See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. My efforts must be for the benefit of others and not for my own.
  6. My goal is to bring people into spiritual maturity, but maturity is hard to quantify. The numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Rather than being distracted by the numbers, I need to be still before God (Psalm 46:10) and listen for his voice in the midst of the noise around me.

What do you think? Care to add to the list?


Filed Under: Bible Reflection, Blogging Tagged With: Blog, mission, Social Media

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Fight

Fighting The Wrong Enemy

I read this morning in Mark 9:40, that whoever is not against us is for us. These are the very words of Jesus Christ but often forgotten by those that bear his name. We expend energy in fighting other believers and ignoring the real enemy. Too often doctrinal litmus tests are developed to see who […]

Tunnel

The real cost of the win-at-all-costs mentality

In America we like people and teams who win. We like winners, but what does the win-at-all-costs really cost us? Can we afford to continue down that tunnel?

Running Child

Thank God for the children

In my last post, I wrote about some church leaders’ misunderstanding of the role of the building in worship. This was in response to a note that I had gotten from a reader. In that note, the writer also said that the pastor of the church he visited made a comment about not allowing children […]

War Horse

A lesson on the culture war from “War Horse”

Too often, we fight the culture war by digging a trench and lobbing arguments at the enemy trench. Better we meet between the trenches.

Learning as I go . . .

This is an apology to many of you who get posts from Attempts at Honesty by email. I made a mistake and I’m sorry for it. WordPress (the platform I use to manage the blog) uses plugins to add functionality. I had been using one plugin that provided many functions that I didn’t use so I […]

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
September 2023
SMTWTFS
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« Jun    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in