Be Productive Like JesusSample

Jesus accomplished a lot in only three years. He managed to make such an impact that today we see Christianity taking root in every corner of the world. When we look for productivity in the four gospels, we can begin to find it everywhere. Perhaps the greatest reason for his productivity was his vision. Specifically, there are two main takeaways from Christ’s focus on his ministry that we can consider in our own responsibilities.

Firstly, Christ’s task was important and worth the focus he was giving it. Is ours? There are things we have to do and tasks we have to complete that don’t seem to have value. These things have to be done anyway, and they can and should have immense kingdom value in the way we go about doing them. There are other tasks, however, that don’t deserve our focus and are actually hindering us from the goals and tasks worthy of our attention. Perhaps it’s gossiping in the break room, scrolling through our social media feed, or work responsibilities that should actually be part of someone else’s load in the company. We can ask Jesus to make these things clear to us and with his help ease them out of our lives.

Secondly, Christ made clear that his most important task at that moment was who was in front of him. He took time for people. We all know the guy in the office, rude, focused, completes every task well, but cares little for the janitor, or the receptionist, or the annoying coworker. Jesus was the complete opposite of that guy. He went miles out of his way to talk to a woman at a well; one of his most beloved parables is that of the Samaritan who took an immense amount of time to care for someone others would call his enemy. Jesus has made very clear to us in his actions that we should work at everything as if working for the Lord, but never at the expense of others.

Christ gave focus to one task: the one before him. We can learn a lot from him. Perhaps that means giving up things to focus more on our main task of kingdom building, perhaps that means working harder at work and with more intention, and perhaps that means being more active in how we let our light shine in our workplaces. Take a moment today and ponder what is drawing your focus and either why it should or why it shouldn’t be.