I recently had the privilege of being a guest on the Romans 12 podcast. The topic my friend David Towne wanted me to dive into was time management and productivity.
You can find the podcast here. I hope you are encouraged by it.
Here are a few additional thoughts to add to our interview:
One of the gifts of being a Christian is that we can trust God with our time. Our impulse is to think that we never have enough time, but as Christians who look forward to eternal life, we are promised in Christ that there will be enough time.
Our frustrations and anxieties ought to melt away in the eternal perspective. There are many things that I am unable to do that I wish I could do, but all will be accomplished in due time, even if it isn’t in this life. Our productivity lasts into eternity.
Productivity changes over time. I take much less time to write a sermon or a blog post today than I did ten years ago. There is a marvelous compounding effect of exercising a skill that will pay dividends in your future. Don’t compare yourself to those ahead of you in the journey who are more efficient than you. As you steward your gifts, your efficiency will also grow.
Productivity changes based on the season we are in. The productivity of a parent of young children is very different from that of a parent of teenagers, which is still different from that of an empty nester. Be careful not to compare yourself to those in different seasons than you.
For those who have an achiever’s mentality (I include myself among them), we can deceive ourselves into thinking that the number of things we accomplish is what matters. Far better is the quality and impact of those things we do, than the quantity of what we produce. Far better to have read one book that transformed my heart this year than speed read 100 and gained superficial knowledge. Far more important for me to have loved my neighbor with the sacrificial love of Christ today than to have checked off ten things on my home improvement list.
A final note: if you aren’t familiar with Romans 12 and you are a resident of Tucson, I encourage you to learn more. They are an impactful ministry that serves the city church and its leaders in such important ways. If you live outside of Tucson, I pray that more ministries like Romans 12 multiply! Maybe God might have you consider partnering to launch one in your city.
Here are the books I referenced in the podcast (I highly recommend both):
Do More Better by Tim Challies
What’s Best Next? by Matt Perman
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash