I’ve always thought productivity is all about strategies and tactics. If I could just master the latest tips and tricks then I can be very efficient in my work and maximize my full potential. If I could just minimize all distractions, then I can be more fruitful.
Although these things may help in your productivity, what I have learned to be the most effective path towards productivity is this: confessing that you don’t know anything.
Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”
If you want wisdom in your life, you need to start by confessing your need for it. If you want to be more productive, then you must start by confessing that you don’t know how.
I think Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”
The apostle Paul also said, “Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.” (1 Corinthians 8:2 NLT)
The key to productivity is to know that you won’t be able to make it without God’s help. Your knowledge and human understanding are not enough. What you need is divine revelation.
We need to pray the prayer of Paul for the church in Ephesus. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19a)
No one knows productivity better than God himself. He is the one who created all the trees that bear fruits. He is the one who created us with the capacity to multiply and bear fruits.
Jesus said it best when he talked about the vine and the branches. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV)
The key to fruitfulness is to remain in Christ. Our productivity depends on how we as the branches remain in Christ as the vine.
Here are some insights we can learn from the vine:
- The branch gets its nutrients from the vine.
Our source of life is God himself. We cannot produce fruits apart from the life that comes from Him. True productivity comes from Him and is sustained only by Him. - A branch that is detached from the vine cannot produce fruits.
The greatest enemy of productivity is self-reliance. When you think you know all the answers and you think you can do it by your strength, then you are no longer dependent on God. You are now detached from the vine and you cannot produce real fruits. - A branch that is connected to the vine cannot have a will of its own.
You cannot remain in Christ and still have your way of doing things. To remain in Christ is to do his will and to keep his commands.
It takes humility to admit that you don’t know it all. It takes brokenness to say that you need God. If you want to walk in fruitfulness, start by saying, “I really don’t know anything.”
Photo by Design Wala on Unsplash