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Hope for Those Who Feel Totally Unproductive

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Job loss, economic downturns, illness, accidents, and a host of other difficult circumstances mean that at some point most of us will face something beyond a typical productivity challenge. We will have times when we’ll be seemingly unable to get much done at all that feels “productive.”

If you’re in a situation like that, take hope in the truth that you can be faithful wherever you are, however meager your energy and resources seem to be.

The book of Revelation, for example, teaches that faithfulness is the means by which we overcome the world and obtain victory. Christ specifically emphasizes this in his letters to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 in relation to those who are powerless and seemingly unable to do anything:

  • “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich).” – Revelation 2:9
  • “I know you that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” – Revelation 3:8

You can be poor in this world, and yet utterly rich before Christ (Revelation 2:9). You can be utterly powerless in this world, and yet highly regarded by Christ (Revelation 3:8). This is true riches.

Trusting in him and obeying his commands is the essence of what God requires, and you can do this wherever you are and in whatever condition you are in.

No matter what your situation, you can look to God (Psalm 18:6), you can pray for the spread of the gospel among all nations (Matthew 6:9-10), you can be kind to the people who cross your path (1 Corinthians 13:5), and you can point them to your hope in Christ (1 Peter 3:15). “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10).

And, no matter what situation you’re in, you can pray. You can do more through prayer than you can imagine. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think…to him be glory” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

If you can pray, you can change the world.

An Interview with Malcolm Gladwell on His New Book, David and Goliath

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Catalyst interviews Malcolm Gladwell on David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, his new book.

Gladwell’s answer to this question sums up his aim in the book:

What do you want people to take away from David and Goliath?
I want people to understand that much of what is beautiful and important in our world comes from adversity and struggle.

Read the whole thing.

You Will Suffer from Your Work, and It Is Not Sin

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I feel like I could write a trillion words on the subject, and I hope to write on this in more detail in the coming months (we’ll see). Ajith Fernando captures the essence of my thoughts very well in his article To Serve is To Suffer. He’s hitting a note that you rarely see these days, and I think he’s right on:

I have a large group of people to whom I write asking for prayer when I have a need. Sometimes my need is overcoming tiredness. When I write about this, many write back saying they are praying that God would strengthen me and guide me in my scheduling. However, there are differences in the way friends from the East and some from the West respond.

I get the strong feeling that many in the West think struggling with tiredness from overwork is evidence of disobedience to God. My contention is that it is wrong if one gets sick from overwork through drivenness and insecurity. But we may have to endure tiredness when we, like Paul, are servants of people [emphasis added].

The New Testament is clear that those who work for Christ will suffer because of their work [emphasis added]. Tiredness, stress, and strain may be the cross God calls us to. Paul often spoke about the physical hardships his ministry brought him, including emotional strain (Gal 4:19; 2 Cor 11:28), anger (2 Cor 11:29), sleepless nights and hunger (2 Cor 6:5), affliction and perplexity (2 Cor 4:8), and toiling — working to the point of weariness (Col 1:29). In statements radically countercultural in today’s “body conscious” society, he said, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16); and, “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Cor 4:11-12). I fear that many Christians approach these texts only with an academic interest, not seriously asking how the verses should apply in their lives.

The West, having struggled with the tyrannical rule of time, has a lot to teach the East about the need for rest. The East has something to teach the West about embracing physical problems that come from commitment to people. If you think it is wrong to suffer physically because of ministry, then you suffer more from the problem than those who believe that suffering is an inevitable step on the path to fruitfulness and fulfillment. Since the cross is a basic aspect of discipleship, the church must train Christian leaders to expect hardship. When this perspective enters our minds, pain will not touch our joy and contentment in Christ. In 18 different New Testament passages, suffering and joy appear together. In fact, suffering is often the cause for joy (Rom 5:3-5; Col 1:24; James 1:2-3).

In short, suffering is not just persecution. As Paul’s own example shows, it is also the pain, tiredness (2 Cor 6:5 — even “sleepless nights,” in which I would also include all-nighters), seasons of extensive work (2 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:9), confusion (2 Cor 4:8), emotional pressure (2 Cor 11:28; Gal 4:19), and “non-mind-like-water” mental “weights” that come our way as we are simply being faithful. These things are not automatically signs that we are working too hard. They are often part of the path, and they are supposed to be.