It is a question many of us have to wrestle down because we are fatefully tied (sometimes even identified by) our HIGH productivity or our low productivity. But the question remains, at the end of the day, what makes me feel accomplished or productive?
Lets break that down a bit:
A professional or goal based productivity - here there are deadlines, meetings and an expected output. An office executive cannot expect to sit in his chair and do nothing. He must interact with the people of the company, churn out reports, burn the midnight oil in meetings and make adjustments (among a myriad of other tasks) which reflect in a larger profit margin or he will cease to be employed.
Or... how about a mom who works part time and still cares for the home? How is she to define productivity? Is it in the amount of laundry done and folded, the cleanliness of the house, the orderliness of her children, the absence of chaos? (all this in addition to the hours she "works.")
"...Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive..." Titus 3:14
Paul, in his letter to the Colossian believers, gives us the answer ...
Often times when "urgent" needs present themselves, if I am being TOTALLY transparent, I am inconvenienced. I feel as though my list (how I measure my productivity) will be immediately compromised.
But this is EXACTLY what it means for God to be God. He can interrupt my schedule (and I would argue, yours) WHENEVER he wants. And here is a newsflash - he often does. Do I see it as a pathway to accomplishing something meaningful for the Sake of the Gospel or do I fight it?
It has never been about me (or you for that matter), but others for the sake of the Gospel and the Glory of God! So, this week, as God interrupts your schedule and throws a wrench in your supposed productivity - remember these doors - they lead to something far greater and more fulfilling than you could ever manufacture by all that you will "get done" today!
Well said. I wonder if God even has the word productivity in his vocabulary? At least in the sense we often use it
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