Skip to main content

Piper's 7 Lessons in Productivity

I listened to an APJ episode recently called "Seven Lessons in Productivity" and loved it. I was challenged and encouraged to embrace the tiniest moments to create, love, and serve. I thought I would distill the advice for my sake and pass it along. The 20 minute podcast is worth your time, but below is my summary:



1. No man is an island. 

  • Productive people have others help them. Who is my team? 
  • "The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 1 Corinthians 12:21
  • " What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 4:7



2. Know why you exist and why you do what you do.

  • God created us a secondary creators and makers.



3. Discover and embrace the difference between sloth/lazyness and rest/leisure.

  • The sabbath may be gone, but the sabbath principal is not.



4.If we are going to work abundantly and faithfully, we must not be paralyzed by perfection.

  • God created us to work abundantly!
  • "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:57
  • Do something with what you have and it will give you direction for the future.



5.  Act promptly when your mind is ripe with insight and ready for action.

  • Ideas need to be captured when they come upon you; write them down or you will likely lose them.



6. Steady, small chops will bring down a huge tree.

  • At only 15 minutes per day, you can read a big book over time!
  • "If you must see a tree fell every time you pick up an ax, you will spend your life on little projects."
  • Keep chopping at whatever task you have and your labor will accumulate.
  • Inspiration: The 9000 page TDNT was translated at a steady 2.5 hours/day and roughly 500 pages per year!



7. Forget what lies behind and press forward to the goal...

  • "Never get to a point in life where you are more contented with what you have already done than you are excited about what is to be done."
  • "Pray 'make this my most fruitful season, Lord'"
  • "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14


I hope you are challenged and encouraged! Again, listening to the podcast is worth it - the link is at the top!
-Bronson

Comments

Post a Comment

What would you add? Any insights you have?

Popular posts from this blog

The Church's Ongoing Pandemic

Photo Credit  People don’t go to church for a lot of reasons, but a Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble. Sadly, the number of professing Christians is far larger than the number who attend weekly meetings. Many churches experienced an acceleration of this trend during Covid as well: professing Christians have returned to school, work, and leisure, but have not returned for regular church gatherings. Why? Everyone is a unique case in the specifics, but there are trends we see in the wake of the pandemic: people have elevated political and medical (mask & vaccine) opinions over faith commitments and demoted their faith so it is not the primary identity marker in their life. What does this mean for the church? Is it doomed? I don’t think so, but Christians need to rediscover that the church can have different political and medical opinions, but still love each other, be on mission, and gather for Jesus. Christians need to remember that the fact that Jesus died o...
1 comment
Read more

Haiti Trip - Overview

Amber and I are going to Haiti on July 1 st -7 th with 7 other members of Ballardsville Baptist Church (and 1 from another local church).  The trip is led by Brent Gambrell, the President of A Door to Hope Ministries. He has an ongoing ministry presence in Haiti, which takes short-term missionaries to areas of strategic outreach. We will be going to a village called Calebasse (Cal-eh-bass). We know we will be in Calebasse for prayer walking, sharing the gospel, and doing home repair. We don’t know exactly what else we will help with yet, because it could change before July! The possibilities include the building/repair of a church, helping with a pastor’s conference, VBS, or orphanage repair. Much of the work focuses on recovery and repair from the disasters Haiti experienced in 2010 (7.0 earthquake) and 2016 (Hurricane Matthew). ( See this later blog  - we received  news of more trip specifics ) Would you partner with us in praying for our tr...
Post a Comment
Read more

April 2019 "It...it's just too late."

Friends and Family, let me start by apologizing for not sending out a March update. Life got busy and it fell by the wayside! Here is what is up with us: New& Exciting  We were blessed this year to have the spring breaks of my Seminary, Amber's school, and the youth's school schedule on the same week, so we took a trip down to Florida with some good (and generous friends), Neal and Layne, to their family beach house. We got tan, enjoyed the beach, walked a park, hung a hammie, played a board game (Catan, multiple times!), and generally just had a great time getting away. Also, I caught up on my Hebrew homework (to the -rightful- chagrin of Amber.) Funny  As usual, Amber comes home with the best stories of kids saying silly things. Recently, Amber went on a field trip to a park and kids were pushing boundaries by playing in a creek. One older boy crossed the creek on a stick that was not sturdy. This inspired a smaller and younger boy, only 8, to head toward...
1 comment
Read more