Work Smarter, Not Harder

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.’” (Revelation 2:1-5 ESV). Most of us have heard the instruction, “Work smarter, not harder.” It applies in many situations of life. I remember the last year I was in the business of automotive sales. We had witnessed many swings in the numbers of new and used cars and trucks sold. There had been a few days when it seemed we were very busy, but not very productive. It was almost comical to see the activity levels increase as the month began to close without goals and objectives being reached. In some cases, positive results were produced; however I had come to realize that those results were achieved not simply because of the activity, but because of the direction of it. I remember one particular situation vividly. It was a Saturday, our busiest day, and I noticed early in the day that one sales consultant was very busy. He seemed never to sit down the whole morning, even though there wasn’t anyone actually present with him. At times, he could be found actually pacing back and forth on the showroom floor. By mid-afternoon I had noticed that he had already had several customers. I thought, “He’s having a good day.” And, by the end to the day, when things had quieted down a bit, I sat beside him in one of the waiting area chairs and remarked that he seemed to have had a great day. He was after all, very busy. He said, very solemnly, “I didn’t sell anything!” Oh, he was busy, but he was merely going through the motions. As we talked, more and more I came to realize that he wasn’t directing his activity toward the goal of selling. He was just busy! It occurs to me that our spiritual lives are often like that. It is not enough to be busy. We ought to direct our activity toward the goals of God’s purpose in our lives. This was the judgment against the Church in Ephesus in our reading today. They were busy, but the Lord said they had left their first love. They were doing “stuff” but it was not directed toward the purpose of God. God’s desire for all of us is that we first love Him with all our beings, and then love others even as we love ourselves. Jesus said these two were the greatest commandments. These are our goals. As you busy yourself with activity, whether at home, work, or in your church, ask yourself: “Does this achieve those goals?” The key is not in working harder, but in working smarter! It is a word for each of us individually and for our churches corporately!