Godward Toil

Weekly review, the heart, and Satan

Many, many, many people have written about the importance of having a time each week when you review your commitments, calendar, and next actions toward goals.  Right now I have fallen out of the practice in a terrible way, and I'm seeing the consequences...I'm forgetting things, missing needed actions, slipping on my commitments to people, and frittering away time unproductively.   Why does this happen?  If I know that setting aside a couple of hours each week will make me more Kingdom effective ,and save time in the long run, why is it so hard to do it consistently?

With regard to sin, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said this:  "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."  His idea is that his heart does not follow what his head knows to be good, true, and right.  The prophet Jeremiah said it this way, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.  Who can understand it?"  (Jer 17:9)  A colleague told me this week that there is a Korean saying that there is no greater distance than that which is between the head and the heart.   

Paul and Jeremiah are most directly talking about the way that pride works to undermine our judgment and lead us to sin.   Not having a weekly review is not "sin" in and of itself, but it is a neglect of a discipline that can lead (and does in my life) to poor stewardship of time, lack of diligence, lack of fruit and good works, failure to honor commitments (integrity), and poor leadership in my family.

When I look at this list of outcomes, I wonder what role Satan plays in stealing my weekly review.  The devil is prowls, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8) and he wants to render me ineffective--wants me to forget that phone call to a brother in need who I promised to call.  I do not pray against Satan nearly enough--and hardly ever about things like weekly reviews!   But I need to take a stand in prayer for my disciplines. 

Father, restore me to diligence in my disciplines.  Show me how to find time for weekly review.  Defeat Satan who wishes to render me fruitless, flailing, and purposeless.   Give me every tool to stay focused on you and the good works you've prepared in advance for me to walk in.   Amen.

Eric Mack e-Productivity Conference Going Strong!

Eric Mack's eProductivity conference is going strong in Manila.  He cleverly live-posted text and and picture of his audience as part of one of the sessions to demonstrate the ease and power of setting up a website.

I had the privilege of offering some input on some of the the conference content, and I've been praying for Eric and his team, so it's exciting to see the conference in full swing.

Eric Mack posts from Philippines productivtity conference

Eric Mack blogged this week from a productivity conference in Manila, Philippines that was hosted by a massive  Evangelical church (Cathedral of Praise) there. Eric was the featured speaker.  For anyone interested in the intersection between productivity and Christianity, I recommend reading the posts about the Philippines Conference (and his blog in general).

For those who don't know about Eric Mack, he is a Christian who also is a well-known blogger and eProductivity expert. Eric has worked for many years in the consulting, productivity, and technology worlds. He has worked with David Allen Company for years.  Of interest, he also graduated in 2006 from the Master's College with a degree in business (a speech he gave at 2006 convocation is worth listening to).

Killing sin as a GTD project

I have started applying GTD principles to battling the enduring sins in my life. Here is how I am thinking about it. 

The Apostle Paul often enjoined his readers to “put to death” their sin (Romans 8:13; Col 3:5). His foundation for encouraging this uncompromising stance toward sin is apparent in Romans 6: we died with Christ, and “the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.” So we too, who are in Christ, live for God and not for sin. It is more than metaphorical to talk of killing your sin.

The Scriptures and Christian wisdom have given us numerous means and disciplines for how to do this. Scripture memory, praying, fasting, meditation, fellowship, retreat, marriage….these and many more are means that God provides the Christian to put sin to death and develop good fruit. The ultimate active agent in all of these is Word of God, itself, which is the sword the Spirit (Hebrews 4:12) uses to expose our deepest motivations, so that we can sever our ties to disobedience and rest in God.

What I find hard, and what I see in others in the Church today is keeping my eye on the target. When Scriptures, a friend, my wife, a sermon, the Spirit, show me sin that is alive in me, that I am devoting myself to, I have a sincere desire to rid myself of it. I ask forgiveness, I pray, then, too often over time I lose focus. I don’t take steps I vowed (to myself, to others, to God) to take. I get distracted and busy with other things, and though I may strike a first blow to my sin I don’t work the process through to the point of death.  This “forgetfulness” reflects the frailty of my flesh and reflects the state of a heart that can too easily be wooed away from the most important things by less important things.  In God’s eyes it is a serious thing to neglect a vow made before him (see Deut 23:21 ).

So what to do about it? Well, the first is to pray for a desire for God and hatred of sin that are so strong that I need fewer and fewer mechanisms and reminders to stay focused.  (I am thankful that there will come a day in heaven when I even won’t need to put “pray” or “review scripture memory” on a to-do list: He will be in full view at all times!) The second thing to do is to do whatever I can to keep important things in front of my face. As David Allen often says, if you want to remember to take something to work, you put it in front of the door so you trip on it on your way out in the morning. That is where putting spiritual battles on a project list is helpful. Here is what I have started to do when, through whatever means God uses, I become aware of a habitual sin in my life and experience the desire to overcome it. 

• Capture the conviction in one of my “collection buckets” [Example: “Add fighting [name of sin] to project list”].
• Pray over and write down the Biblical outcome I seek: “The sin of [name] no longer owns me.”
• Enter this statement into my Projects and Callings List (GTD Project list) and pray for what would be the next step in faith (Next Action) associated with this project.
• List the identified step in my context-based Next Action list.  These actions range widely and can be anything that moves me forward. Examples: @Calls:  Call Tim to have breakfast. @Home: Tell to Amy about project; ask for accountability. @Internet: Go to CCEF bookstore to look for books about [name of sin] recommended by the faculty. @Prayer: Pray to overcome temptation expected on Tuesday morning. @Errands: Buy new journal for focused prayer.
• As I complete any action (and _before_ I check it off as complete), try to discern and write down what the next step will be--keeping the forward momentum needed for a battle-to-the-death.
• As with any project/outcome, include this one in my Weekly Review. If I fail to identify a next step after taking the first or second one (laziness, distraction, or self-satisfaction creep in), catch it as part of the review and assign one then. In that way, no more than a week of distraction/forgetfulness can go by.
• Keep the project on my list until I can say that the outcome statement is true (“The sin of [name] no longer owns me” ). It may stay on the list for a long or short time, but (oh!) what a glorious moment it will be to take it off the list.  Who ever thought that a check box on a to-do list could cause so much celebration in heaven?

(Note: Unfamiliar GTD terms can be found in David Allen's book or in this this chapter-by-chapter primer by Blackbelt Productivity.)   

I would love to peek into the details of the daily disciplines of Jesus to know how he managed perfectly to keep his spiritual battles in front of him, despite the many distractions of everyday life and ministry. As the God-Man, he was perfectly at one on the Lord’s will, yet we know that he, too, was tempted by distraction, busyness, and forgetfulness.  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15). I don’t know precisely how he stayed so focused and pure, but I know that He is pleased when we use all available means to kill our sin.  After all, He is the One who advised cutting off my own hand if it would help (Matt 5:30; 18:8).

My Godward Toil Story (Part 3)

...Continued from PART 2.

I tend to have a preference for orthodoxy, so once I decided that I would try GTD I wanted to implement it by THE BOOK.   But the book said it could take 3 days to start!  How would I find 3 solid days (!) to reorder my work and home life?   I decided that I would try to do it in 2 days, and set them aside during the week of Christmas when things are quieter around my workplace.   I prayed that God would be pleased with this step, and honor it by giving me great speed.   Instead, God provided an additional two days!   We were visiting out-of-town family for Christmas and both of my kids got sick, causing us to come home early.  It was sad and hard for us to leave early, but by the time we got home the kids were much better and my wife and I decided to seize the moment for me begin my GTD implementation  It turns out I needed it--it took 4 full days to bring order to my complicated life.

It is appropriate at this point to note my wife's role in this.   By nature, she is a more organized person than I am.  She never criticized me for the way I managed things (or didn't), but my attitude when tasks around the home would come up was terrible.  I often grumbled and complained, and she bore the brunt.  It pains me to think about how it must have discouraged her to have a husband so full of energy and ideas, yet so ineffective in responding to the day-to-day details of our family's life.   Many times, I forced her into a position of having to organize me with lists and schedules, which wasn't good for either of us, nor is it how God intends a marriage to be.  When I told her I was ready to try a new system, she was probably skeptical but was extremely supportive.  She gladly gave me the time, and the space in our home I needed to implement my plans.

to be continued...

My Godward Toil Story (Part 2)

(continued from Part 1)
In my searches, I looked at lots of productivity systems, including the most common ones.  I eventually found my way to David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) work via the MindManager world. I had purchased Mindmanager a week earlier, and had barely begun to experiment with it. I don't remember the exact search string, but it doesn't take long to find GTD if you enter "Mindmanager" and almost any productivity-like term.  I started surfing blogs and blogrolls, and eventually understood enough about GTD to know that I wanted to know more.  It was a case example of the power of Web 2.0 social networking (though I had never heard that term at the time).

I borrowed the book from our wonderful town library.  As a Christian,I am wary of any kind of self-help book.  Most pop psychology or self-help books glorify the inner power of the human being.  They make much of people, and little (or nothing) of God.  They offer people the promise of change and happiness, if only they will believe in...themselves.  I understand and respect the earnestness and good intentions of authors in the genre (and, in a previous time looked for Answers in these and New Age spirituality books), but most are not compatible with a Biblical worldview.

So, I approached the book with skepticism and caution.  In fact, I was even a little embarrassed when I checked it out of the library.  And, indeed, I did find some of the hallmarks of humanistic self-help and the elevation of human potential (in the last couple of chapters of the book, in particular).  But I also found a methodology that was manifestly sound, and, in ways I didn't expect, adaptable to my worldview.

The bottom up approach of GTD is what makes it so compelling in this way.   The methodology can be applied as a discipline, without even needing to buy into "stress-free productivity" (the subtitle of the book) as a primary goal.  Rather, the methods can help a reader bring order to his life, such that he can more effectively discern and pursue the right ends (telos).

Nevertheless, the Biblical Christian does need to do some work to filter, alter, and morph GTD in order to bring it under God's authority and to make it consistent with a life of Godward orientation and childlike dependence in faith.   That is the work I aim to do in the seminar I'm developing and in this blog. 

To be continued in Part 3...

Godward Toil Pilot Seminar

Last month, my wife and I hosted three couples at our home to participate in a pilot seminar, "Godward Toil:  Peace, purpose, and productivity when there's too much to do."   I worked on the seminar for many months, so it was a joy to finally share it.

The presentation was 2 hours long.  The first half of the seminar focused on theological foundations--what does it mean to "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men," (Col 3:23).   We examined scriptures about how God wants us to approach the full lives he has given us.  The second half revolved around methods for honoring God with all that he puts in our lives.   Much of the second part drew from principles of David Allen's Getting Things Done, and applied them in a God-centered way with a Godward focus.  The aim of the Christian Life is to glorify God in all that we do and feel.  That aim influences how one thinks about and implements GTD methodology or any other system.  In future posts, I hope to share of the mindmaps I presented (using MindManager by Mindjet).

It was a stimulating and enjoyable evening for me.  These were dear friends and sincere Christians--all ready and open to focus on what God wants from them "when there's too much to do."  It showed me how hungry God's people are to honor him more in how we handle the stuff of everyday life.

We had a lot to cover in a short time.  I started about 5 minutes late because of a clinical emergency I had to focus on from work.  Then it took me a few minutes to shift mindset and start.  That was both difficult for me, and a wonderful illustration of how God puts things in our lives that we don't expect or plan on.  At 6pm, he gave me a calling I didn't expect when I scheduled the seminar for 7pm!  That's what the seminar was all about.

Our friends had lots of questions, especially about the practical outworking of the principles.  They asked for examples.  I gave a few glimpses into my own system by showing portions of my task list.  I'm not sure if that was helpful or overwhelming.  I'll have to think about that for future discussions.

I requested feedback via Survey Monkey, and got feedback from 4 of the 7 participants.  It's hard to draw conclusions with that response rate, but at least the ones who responded were highly positive about the training.  I asked All would recommend it to a friend, and all wanted to participate in a follow-up.  Interestingly, when I asked people to rank what they most wanted in a follow-up seminar, extensive Q&A was at the top of the list.   I'll be sure to incorporate that feedback.

Overall, I am so thankful about how the evening went.  I felt like I honored God in how I talked about his work in our lives and how I handled the Scriptures.  I enjoyed doing it in that special, inexplicable way that one enjoys working in the Spirit, doing exactly what He wants at a particular moment.   And, I think my friends left with some concrete ways they could honor God more with their lives.