The Starting Point for Pastoral Productivity

Where Pastors Must Begin With Their Productivity

Walk into any Barnes and Noble or Books a Million and pick up a productivity or time management book. You will find some terrific tips on being efficient and effective. The one thing you will not find in these books is the most important goal for true productivity - doing everything for the Glory of God.

Christians not only have a different outlook on life, they also have different goals. The primary goal of all of life is to glorify (magnify, shine the spotlight on, exalt, and point others to) God. Paul told the Corinthians to glorify God in their eating, drinking, and in whatever they did (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The glory of God is the starting point for Christian productivity. It is the starting point for all pastoral ministry. Many of the secular productivity gurus point their followers to self-fulfillment and self-accomplishment. They begin with the person and "what they want" rather than what God wants. This should not surprise us. People who do not know God give little thought to God. They consider their life to be their own, and they serve themselves. Their own glory is their goal.

As believers who desire to glorify God, we must do only what God wants us to do. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God prepared good works that He wants us to accomplish. Doing this with our lives brings about true success and brings God glory. Jesus modeled this. In John 17:4, Jesus says to His Father, "I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." Jesus didn't do everything. But He did what the Father wanted Him to do. We must learn this lesson. There is not time to do everything in life, but there is time to do what God wants us to do.

We often find ourselves overextended, overworked, and overwhelmed because we are doing things that God never intended us to do. I'm not talking about bad things like stealing from liquor stores or shooting at the police. I'm talking about many "good" things, but not the things that God has specifically for us. Sadly, we do some things for our glory, not God's.

We would do well in planning out our schedules (and lives) to say what Paul said when the Lord met him on the road to Damascus - "Lord, what would you have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). We can learn a lot from these eight words. First, we acknowledge that He is the Lord and we are not. This means that He is in charge. Next, the word "me" helps us to recognize that the Lord has plans for us personally. Finally, we are reminded that there are things that God wants us to do. Faith equals obedience and action. We are not saved to sit, soak, and sour.  We are saved to serve. God has assignments for us to do!

Where do we start in productivity?  We begin with God, not ourselves.

Pastoral productivity is doing what God wants, when God wants, all for God's glory.

Now, what does He want you to do?