Your weekly roundup of insights and resources to help you get more done for the glory of God.
In Today’s Issue:
- How to Pursue the Right Vocation
- Life-Hacking Your Way to Holiness
- God’s Gift of Hobbies
- A Church-Wide Digital Detox
- Quote: Matthew Henry on Diligence
Dear steward,
I spent the last week and a half redoing my home office: new paint, new furnishings, new setup (you’ll see it in next week’s video). But as you might imagine, having my work space out of commission for nearly a fortnight has produced no minor disruption to my own productivity.
But I don’t care.
The reason I’m not bent out of shape about it is that I trust that, in the long term, the result will be worth the disruption—a more enjoyable space to work, a better backdrop for my videos, and a space more conducive to writing.
But I’m sharing this with you because I think it speaks to a more general principle, one that can be a hard pill to swallow for productivity-minded believers: Sometimes, the best way to speed up is to slow down.
It’s natural to assume constant progress is always the most efficient way forward. We think, “If I stop rowing the boat, I’ll lose time!” However, in personal productivity, as in seafaring, sometimes the wisest thing you can do is temporarily cease your progress. Because it’s in this pause that you take the time to check your direction, upgrade your vessel, or otherwise re-evaluate your current course.
That’s one of the reasons I’m a big believer in things like scheduled weekly and quarterly reviews. It’s a deliberate halting of your work to survey if you’re still doing the right things, following the correct priorities, and actually accomplishing what you set out to do. There is no virtue in keeping your head down and barreling forward when the objective has shifted.
Similarly, I’ve found that pausing to work on a big project (like a book project, developing a resource, or an office remodel), while scary at the moment because it requires neglecting that sense of forward progress for a time, in hindsight usually proves to have moved the needle further than if I had just kept plugging along with business as usual.
It may be worth asking yourself this week if your best next step might be in a backward direction.
THE ROUNDUP
The best links I found this week
How to Identify and Pursue the Right Vocation (5 mins)
William Boekestein / Ligonier
Some helpful guidance in this one. And if you’re interested in an additional perspective on this, see also my recent piece, “How to Discern Your Calling“.
You must make hard choices about your future. But don’t panic. After all, biblical vocation is the aligning of the gifts God has given us, the Spirit’s guidance through self-examination and the input of other believers, providential opportunities, and divine assistance in wisely practicing our gifts.
You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness (5 mins)
Trevin Wax / The Gospel Coalition
Warning: You might feel targeted by this one!
But I think it is a valuable reminder (especially if you’re the type of person who would read a newsletter like this one).
When the Christian life doesn’t follow the simple, formulaic approach we learned as children, we often seek new methods. We hunt for the perfect technique or tool to maximize our Bible reading or make us more consistent in prayer. What practices will transform my life? What rhythms, formulas, or liturgies might help me gain the most from spiritual disciplines?
God’s Good Gift of Hobbies (4 mins)
Steve Lindsey / The Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
One of the saddest losses that came with the rise of the smartphone was the death of the hobby. This is an encouraging piece on the many God-glorifying benefits of pursuing hobbies.
If you happen to be one of those with unexpected schedule flexibility in this season, give streaming and social media a rest and explore a new interest, or maybe an unattended old one, as God’s renewing gift of life to you.
And if you’re looking for some ideas for your next hobby, you might appreciate this guide: Make It Yourself: 1,000 Useful Things to Make. It’s just a PDF with a bunch of guides for how to build various things yourself!
The Joy of Missing Out: Lessons from a Church-Wide Digital Detox (7 mins)
Darren Whitehead / After Babel
Some months back, I shared my appreciation (and alarm!) for Jonathan Haidt’s findings, which he shared in his book The Anxious Generation. Well, Haidt recently shared a story of a church that did a 28-day break from technology and it’s very interesting.
Personally, I think it would be an awesome thing to see more churches doing this.
Tackling digital overuse required more than simply encouraging the congregation to put down their phones. We needed a comprehensive solution deeply rooted in spiritual practices. The 28-Day Digital Fast was designed not just to abstain from screens, but to reorient our attention and ultimately renew our relationship with God, each other, and our true selves.
A DOSE OF WISDOM
Quote of the Week
“The slothful desire the gains which the diligent get, but they hate the pains which the diligent take.”
Matthew Henry
FINAL WORD
Thanks for reading!
Praying you have a fruitful rest of your week.
Reagan Rose
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