Aaron O'Harra is a Resource Consultant at Desiring God and the worship leader at Glory of Christ Baptist Church.

Many of you have contacted us concerning the Fall and Christmas Outreach Special. After hearing some outstanding spreading efforts, we decided to post a few of them in order to prime your creativity and perhaps help you think of new ways to share Christ this Christmas.

“We’ll be renewing our wedding vows and going to be giving away a book to everyone who attends our ceremony.” (The Griffins in St. Clair Shores, MI)

“After every basketball game, we will be giving every person on the opposing team a copy of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ along with a Bible. Afterward, the student body will be getting together on the court to pray for them.” (The Moody Bible Institute Basketball Team in Chicago, IL)

“I work with an organization that teaches English to international students and I want to use these books as a teaching resource.” (David in Amarillo, TX)

“I’m new to this area and want to get to know my neighbors and co-workers a little bit more, so I’m going to be sending them all Christmas cards along with this book.” (Mike in San Jose, CA)

Get creative! Think hard! Strategize! We want the excellencies of Christ to be proclaimed this Christmas season. Give us a call at 1-888-346-4700 if you'd like to use these books as part of your mission to help people see the beauty of Christ.

This is the prayer I prayed over and over again this past weekend, walking from the back of the conference hall to the front:

Lord, please kill my pride and the desire I have to make a name for myself.

I was one of the speaker hosts for the Desiring God National Conference this past weekend. It was a tremendous privilege to be involved in the conference in this way. But like every good gift, it had its vice.

The Holy Spirit was constantly reminding me throughout the weekend how in-love with myself I am. This was particularly evident in how self-aware I was while escorting our guests from the back of the auditorium to the front.

It’s amazing how such a small mound of a task can well up into a mountain of pride.

I blindly interpreted audience glances directed at the speaker as being stares at me. The enemy subtly gave his pitch:

Look at all of these people looking at you! Look at how they are wondering who you are! They’re probably thinking about how important you are, because you’re escorting him to his seat. And they’re right, you are pretty important. Look at how you are making a name for yourself.

This small voice has the power to kill the soul. What starts with a seed-size desire grows into a harvest of lust. And the quiet temptation to be noticed with these men flourishes into a lust to be them.

I believe that many who attend conferences like this hear the same voice, perhaps especially young men and pastors. It’s the voice that entices us by saying that to have “made it” as a pastor is to one day be that conference speaker.

This ambition—this lust for praise—is from the devil and not from God. To those who feel this like I do, let’s not treat our accomplishments as trophies, thinking that we’ve “made it” when we grow a church, do a conference, or write a book. 

Let’s be faithful to God and the ministry he’s called us to, whether it’s to 10 people or 10,000. The accolades of 10,000 are as nothing in comparison to the approval of one.

I thank God for his powerful words and the wonder of his son in giving me this warning:

Beware of the scribes [me], who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts…They will receive the greater condemnation. (Mark 12:38-40)

In the end, God will not be impressed that I talked with Bob Kauflin, or shook the hand of Mark Driscoll, or saved a seat for Paul Tripp, or that I know John Piper. The only thing God will care about is “Did you talk with the poor? Did you shake the hand of the leper? Did you save a seat for the lame? And most of all, did you know my son?”

In our preaching class at The Bethlehem Institute some time back we came across wonderful counsel by C. H. Spurgeon. When stepping into a new congregation that is laced with backbiting and gossip, he says:

It is the extreme of unwisdom for a young man fresh from college, or from another charge, to suffer himself to be earwigged by a clique, and to be bribed by kindness and flattery to become a partisan, and so to ruin himself with one-half of his people. Know nothing of parties and cliques, but be the pastor of all the flock, and care for all alike. Blessed are the peacemakers, and one sure way of peacemaking is to let the fire of contention alone. Neither fan it, nor stir it, nor add fuel to it, but let it go out of itself. Begin your ministry with one blind eye and one deaf ear.