Biblical Call and Plan for Productivity

Today's broadcast of the Christian Worldview was previously aired. The biblical call and plan for productivity. That is a topic we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Worldview radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have not put their faith in Him. I'm David Wheaton, the host of the Christian Worldview, and our website is TheChristianWorldview.org.

We're so glad you joined us this morning for our live broadcast, broadcast live every Saturday morning between 8 and 9 a.m. Central Time. And the topic today, again, is the biblical call and plan for productivity. Now, at first glance, productivity can seem a subject more suited for business people than for Christians. But God's word, specifically Jesus' parable of the talents in Matthew 25, is clear that God expects His followers to use and grow the resources and opportunity He gives, whether finances, skills, time, to advance His kingdom. God calls us to be productive.

But the question is how? In an age where we are bombarded with information and distractions and options, how do we manage family and work and projects and tasks and events and church, prioritizing and pursuing what's important over merely what's urgent and comes in front of us every day? Our guest today is Tim Challies. He's a noted blogger and pastor and author of the book we're going to discuss, Do More Better, A Practical Guide to Productivity. He joins us today in The Christian Worldview, and here's the first segment of that interview.

Tim, it's great to have you back on The Christian Worldview radio program. Let's start out by discussing why the topic of productivity is important for Christians to even consider. Tim Challies Yeah, it is such an important topic because I believe, at least the way I define productivity, that that's exactly why God put us on this earth, to be productive. It's always one of the big topics in publishing is the topic of productivity, but I think most people miss the real point of it all. I'm going to read a short quote from your book, Do More Better, from page 16, and you give a definition of productivity there. You say, Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God. Productivity calls you to direct your whole life at this great goal of bringing glory to God by doing good for others.

This call involves using your gifts, the spiritual gifts you were given when the Lord saved you. It involves deploying your talents, those areas of natural strength. It involves managing your time, those 24 hours God gives you each day. It involves making use of your energy, the strength or vitality that ebbs and flows through the day and the week. And it even involves your enthusiasm, the passion and interest you can bring to those works you love to do.

God calls you to take all of that and to apply it carefully, faithfully and consistently to the great goal of doing good to others. I'd like you to explain, Tim, what the world's concept of productivity is and compare it with the biblical definition of productivity in light of that definition you just gave. Yeah, well there's the rub and there are thousands and thousands of books on productivity and very few of them are written from a distinctly Christian perspective. And so the functional view of productivity there seems to be bringing joy to yourself or doing good things for yourself or becoming wealthy or being able to retire early or something, you know, maybe that four hour workweek kind of thing.

And that's a very self-centered view of productivity. But when God puts us on this earth, He tells us to do good for others, right? We as Christians are to be in the business of doing good for others. We're supposed to live our lives for the benefit of other people. And of course, also then for the glory of God and the way we glorify God is by doing those good deeds, not good deeds that merit us salvation, right? We've been saved by the gospel, so there's nothing good we have to do to earn salvation, but we've been given salvation as a free gift. And so we live then in a way we were giving ourselves away for the good of others and the glory of God. And so now we're living outside ourselves, we're living for other people. And it's right there we find the big trick all along has been, this is what gives us true satisfaction. There's far more joy to be found in living for others and for God's glory than in living selfishly. The book is Do More Better, A Practical Guide to Productivity and our guest today is the author Tim Challies. You may know him from his blog at challies.com.

He's also a book reviewer for World magazine, author of several books. Tim, you say on page 39 of your book, your primary pursuit in productivity is not doing more things, not simply that, but doing more good as you were alluding to in your last answer. Generally speaking, you can do more good for others if you have fewer roles in projects than if you have more. It is far better to dedicate lots of attention to those areas in which you are particularly talented or gifted than it is to dedicate minimal attention to the many areas you are not.

Only once, you quote, you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone. Can you make your highest contribution toward the things that really matter? How do you think this idea, Tim, of just doing more rather than doing more for God's glory and for others good, how do you think the idea of doing more creeps into, we know how it creeps into the secular world because it can be self-centered, but how does that view of just doing more, being more busy, therefore I'm productive, how does that creep into the Christian mindset? Well, because there's so much good that can be done, right? There's so many good things we can do in a day, and yet it's striking that as we read about Jesus, here he was at times with all these hurting people, all these sick people lined up before him, and he would actually escape and go off to the wilderness on his own, or he would leave that area to go to another area. So there was lots of good that Jesus left undone in order to do the few things that God had called him to, and so he couldn't say yes to every good opportunity, and people like us now, you know, we too have to say no to good things. There's lots of good things we could do. We need to focus on the best things, the very few things that God calls us to, so we can run ourselves ragged doing all this good stuff.

All the while we're missing the best stuff. We're not doing the things that God has called us to do, and so there's a kind of satisfaction that may come in checking 100 items off a to-do list in a day, but it's probably far more productive to cross two or three things off a list, but they're really the most important things, the things that are us carrying out our God-given purpose. Let's talk about understanding the reason for why we exist as a key to being productive in a way that honors God. You see on page 11 of your book, Do More Better, God created you so he could receive glory from you and receive glory through you. This is an astonishing truth to consider and a deeply humbling one.

When you grasp it and apply it, it transforms everything about your life. The simple fact is you are not the point of your life. You are not the star of your show. If you live for yourself, your own comfort, your own glory, your own fame, you will miss out on your very purpose. God created you to bring glory to him. So let's talk about the steps to becoming more productive. Interestingly, you put the fact that it's important to start out with an understanding for the reason for which you were created. Maybe you could explain that a little more.

Right. Well, it makes good sense, doesn't it, that once you understand why you've been created, well, now you've got the information you need to know how to live well. When you understand, I've been created not to bring attention to myself, not to seek peace or comfort for myself, not first. I've been created to draw attention to God, to bring glory to God. Well, that really does bring about this complete shift, this fundamental shift in the way I'm thinking about life.

So I'm no longer looking for security in myself. I'm no longer looking for what's simple or what makes me feel good. I'm looking at life thinking, what can I do that brings glory to God?

What are things I can do that shine attention to him? So I'm living in a very, very different way now. And again, once I live in that way, I find, oh my, this is the life God wants me to live. There's far more satisfaction in this life than in the other one.

That's a big deception. So if you're listening to this and you're not a Christian, I understand it could sound really dull living for the glory of God. But until you're doing it, you can't understand the joy of it. You can't understand that now you're living out the very reason God created you.

You haven't been until now. Now you're living for God's glory, you get to experience what it's like, you get to experience. This is really why we're here. Our guest today is Tim Challies, the author of Do More Better, a practical guide to productivity. And this is our new current offer on The Christian Real View. We're offering for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View.

You can just get in contact with us the usual way through our website, thechristianrealview.org, or toll free by phone at 1-888-646-2233, a donation of any amount for this book, Do More Better. You talked about good works, one of the reasons for which we are created, Tim. You get into this in your book about the fact that sometimes it's hard for us in our mundane lives, for lack of a better phrase, the things we do on a daily basis, to see them as good works, or to try to alter them so they can be good works, or we think we have a non-spiritual life when we go off to the office every day, or we may have a mundane job, a janitor, or just an electrician, or something that doesn't seem very spiritual. So how do we understand the notion of good works with the fact that what we're doing may not seem highly spiritual? Yeah, we have a really bad gauge on what is actually spiritual, right? We tend to think that the pastors are the spiritual ones, preparing a sermon is spiritual, but wiring up a new light socket is not. But we're absolutely wrong, that we can be spiritual, we can draw attention to God, we can do things to honor God in any vocation in all of life.

And we really see this, if you go all the way back to the beginning, where God gave humanity their marching orders, He told them to subdue this world, to have dominion over this world. And in order for us to have dominion over this world, we need electricians, and we need janitors, and we need moms, stay-at-home moms, who are going to care for the children and raise them up so they too can subdue the earth. We need people who are in jobs they may consider mundane, but they're not truly mundane, because in all of those jobs, you're carrying out God's purpose, and you're in some way drawing attention to Him, you're doing good for other people. And so you can be a distinctly Christian electrician, you can be a distinctly Christian electrician, it's not just in your quiet time, it's in all you do when you're joyfully focusing on other people and seeking to do good to them. You in this book divide down life into five or six areas, you recommend this, and then having a mission statement for each one in the pursuit of being more productive.

Just give us a brief overview of that. Yeah, so at some level a book like this has to get practical, and the way I want people to get practical with it is first to just do a survey of their life. So just kind of, you can imagine stepping up and looking down at your life or something like that, you're getting this view of your life and saying, what is it that I'm responsible for? What has God made me personally responsible for? Well, as I think about that, I think God has made me a husband and a father, so I've got to have an area of responsibility that accounts for my family, right? And then He's also made me a member of a church, so I need to have an area of responsibility, I'm responsible for those people, I've covenanted with those people, so I'm responsible for them. I've got a job, and so that's one area of responsibility where I need to be thinking week by week, how can I bring glory to God, how can I serve people through my job, and so on. And I think most people can do that in five or six, maybe seven or eight categories and say, this is my life, everything is accounted for in one of these categories.

And then what I encourage people to do is to look at each one and say, how do I know if I'm succeeding or failing here? What does it look like for me to live in this way for the glory of God? So personally, I want to be, my mission statement would be delighting in God to the glory of God for the good of all people. So just as I think about my life, am I delighting in God?

Because if I'm delighting in God, that glorifies God, and then I long to do good for other people. So personally, there's my mission. Now what will it take for me to live out that mission? What do I need to do personally to live out that mission? And what can I do for others as I live out that mission?

That's the way I want people to think. And in the book, I guide you step by step to putting that together. You're listening to an interview with Tim Challies, the author of Do More Better, a practical guide to productivity. Who wouldn't want to be more productive and have God say to us someday, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You can order this book by calling us toll free 1-888-646-2233 or just going to our website, thechristianworldview.org. Donation of any amount to The Christian World View.

Back with more after this. There's an abundance of resources available in Christian bookstores and online. But the sad reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. A key aim of The Christian World View is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages, adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group or church.

You can also order by calling our office toll free at 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Be sure to take advantage of two free resources that will keep you informed and sharpen your world view. The first is The Christian World View weekly email which comes to your inbox each Friday. It contains a preview of the upcoming radio program along with need to read articles, featured resources, special events and audio of the previous program. The second is The Christian World View annual print letter which is delivered to your mailbox in November. It contains a year end letter from host David Wheaton and a listing of our store items including DVDs, books, children's materials and more. You can sign up for the weekly email and annual print letter by visiting thechristianworldview.org or calling 1-888-646-2233.

Your email and mailing address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time. Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Today's broadcast of The Christian World View was previously aired. Thank you for joining us today on The Christian World View radio program. I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our topic is the biblical call and plan for productivity. The world has lots of books and seminars and so forth on how to be more productive and it's usually for your own benefit.

Well, today we're speaking about productivity from a biblical standpoint and how to be productive for the glory of God and the good of others. And Tim Chally's is our guest. He's a noted blogger at his website, challys.com. He's a book reviewer and author of several books including one we're talking about today, Do More Better, A Practical Guide to Productivity.

It's our new current offer. Let's get back to the interview with Tim Chally's. Now, you recommend some software tools to be used on the computer to becoming more productive. So I'm going to ask you a two-pronged question here. From a standpoint of those listening who are handy with a computer, who do use computers on a regular basis, I want you to explain what those tools are and how they divide your productivity into three different areas. But also I want you to get into in part B is to talk about for people who maybe are of an older generation or even younger who just aren't computer users, how can they take some of those tools without having a computer in the effort to become more productive? So I think for most of us, we need to rely on three different tools.

And let me step back. In all of life, we are dependent upon our tools and that's okay. God made us that way. Again, you go back to Genesis, there's God telling Adam and Eve, exercise dominion over this world, spread out over this entire world and take ownership of this thing on my behalf. Well, what did Adam and Eve have?

They were alone and naked in a garden. They were not going to carry out God's command unless they developed, invented and used tools. And so we believe that tools are good. We believe that tools are a way that we carry out our calling.

And then when it comes to productivity, we use tools, all of us do. So we have a calendar. What does a calendar do? It helps us remember our appointments. It helps us remember our meetings, important things like that. Most of us have some way of remembering information.

That might be filing cabinets full of files and then paper in the files. And then there's a new kind of tool that not that many people are using yet and that's a task management tool. And that's a tool that allows you to manage your tasks, your projects and to-dos. And so what I do in the book is help people understand these are three tools, a calendar, a task management tool and an information management tool.

Whether you use paper-based ones or whether you use electronic ones isn't really that important. But if you use these three tools, you combine them together and use them in harmony, they're really powerful together in helping you understand how to be productive and then guiding you in your productivity. And that's true, I think, whether you're in business, whether you're in ministry, whether you're at home, whether you're retired, whether you're a student, all of us can use these tools to be more productive. And I'll let listeners get the book and read and get the specifics of utilizing those three tools, those three areas, whether you're a computer person or not.

As Tim mentioned, it will be applicable to you. You repeat this phrase in the book several times, this organizing principle phrase, a home for everything and like goes with like. Why is that so important? That's important because that little mantra, you get that into your mind and you just allow that to influence you in life. Everything in life will be organized if you just follow that principle. You need to have a home for everything, a place where that thing lives or that thing exists if it's not being used.

And things that are similar should go together generally. So you think about keys. When you come in from outside and you've got your keys in your hand, your car keys, there should be a home in your house where those things go, where you put those things.

And chances are all your keys should be together. So when it comes time to finding your keys or using your keys, you know exactly where to find them. Well, what's true in physical realm like that is true as well when it comes to our productivity, when it comes to information or it comes to tasks or it comes to appointments. We need to know where those things reside within a kind of system of productivity and then learn how to use them. So know that there's a home for everything. Tasks live in this task management program.

My information gets filed where all my information goes. And understand that those things need to live together. All tasks need to be together. A lot of us spread our information and spread our tasks all around the place. And that actually keeps us from being productive. We've got to build a system we can trust and rely on and believe that the system really will guide us into doing the best things and telling us which ones to do today, which ones to do tomorrow, which ones not to do at all.

Again, with the goal of bringing God glory and doing more good for others. That's the point of productivity, not just checking boxes to get more done. Tim Challis with us today in the Christian worldview, talking about his new book, Do More Better, a practical guide to productivity. You say that laziness, busyness and lazy busyness, those three things get in the way of productivity.

How so, Tim? Yeah, well, sometimes we are not productive because we're lazy. We just don't get around to it. We have other things, Netflix exists, all of these things that can keep us from being productive. But so too can busyness. Sometimes we can do so many things that we're not focusing on the main things.

We can do 100 less important things, all the while neglecting the one most important thing. And then what can happen is these two can combine to kind of form a perfect storm where I'm lazy for a while and then I'm frantically busy because I've been lazy. And in both cases, I'm just not getting things done.

I'm not getting the right things done, the best things done, the most important things. And so if we can avoid those two things, then hopefully we're living in a far more productive way. I think one of the biggest things, the biggest obstacles that the computer generation faces today is what is the best way to manage all the electronic communication we receive, whether it's email, whether it's text on our cell phone, whether it's Facebook alerts, tweets. How do we, your whole last chapter of the book is on this and I don't want to give the whole thing away, but maybe you could just briefly give us an idea or two so electronic communication doesn't get in the way of productivity. Yeah, there's a lot of different things you can do, but I think most of us need to learn how to use email well, or at least how not to use email badly. Email really hinders us.

It harms our productivity. Most of us are in some way dependent upon it, whether that's personal communication or church or business. In various ways, we rely on email, but most of us use it badly, so we've got to learn how to master this form of communication before it masters us, and it's not that hard to do. There's a few simple rules you can put in place that will help you govern your use of email. And then when it comes to notifications, most of us have phones that are constantly beeping and buzzing and vibrating and all of that. Again, we just need to learn how to use them well, how not to use them poorly. We've got to turn off notifications. You don't really need to be notified every time someone emails you or every time somebody updates Facebook. And then turn off those things.

Turn off the sound. Just try and find times and places where you're undistracted. That's especially true for creative work, but whatever your most important work is, learn how to do that in undistracted ways.

So for a shorter period of time, you can bear down, you can focus, and then you can pop your head up and you can do those things that otherwise distract you. Tim Chally is with us today in The Christian Rule of You, the author of Do More Better, A Practical Guide to Productivity. Our topic for the day is the biblical call and plan for productivity. We've talked much about the plan, some of the details of it, even the biblical call at the beginning of the show. We'll get more into that. In chapter 9, Tim, you title that chapter Live the System.

I'm just going to read a couple sentences here. You say, Motivation gives the desire and energy to begin making changes in your life, but it cannot sustain them. This pure motivation can't.

However, this does not mean you cannot be productive even when motivation is low. As many have pointed out, motivation gets you started, but habits keep you going. You need to use those times of high motivation to build habits and to embed those habits in a system. That way, when motivation wanes, the system will keep you going.

I think this is well said, especially at the beginning of a year, where people are motivated to make changes in their life. They want to live differently. They want to be more productive. They want to get on an exercise program. They want to be more productive in their Bible reading. They want to share their faith more.

They want to be more hospitable in their home. Or maybe they have ideas they want to do, and the motivation starts, but then it wanes and then they fall away from it by February or March, and they get discouraged. Speak further about this dynamic between motivations and habits and how having a system gets us through those times when maybe our motivation level isn't high.

Yes. Again, we can get easily motivated. We read a good book, or we just come to a pivotal time in life, or it's the start of a new year, and we find that motivation is high. For a few days, things are easy. But then that motivation falls off. We're no longer excited about that life change, no longer excited about that new software tool or whatever it is, that new journal. And then pretty quickly we find we're right back where we started.

Or maybe it's been a month before we even realized, oh yeah, I was trying to remember to do this this year. What we need to do is build habits. Now, again, I know some Christians can balk at that as if habits are somehow bad, but I actually believe God created us in that way. He created us so that habit is very, very important to us. And so we can build habits that can really help us live a better life, that can help us live a life that's more honoring to God. If we use habit well, we're used to using habit badly, but we can also use habit well. And so what we need to do when our motivation is high is to start building good habits. And over time, those habits become ingrained in us, and then they kind of take over. And so building good habits is a very important spiritual discipline, which is why if you want to be consistent in reading your Bible, you probably find you do it at the same time, in the same way, at the same place.

That's because you've built that very constructive habit. You probably don't have to go to church Sunday morning at 10 o'clock on your calendar, because you remember, you built a system, a habit to go there. And so in many ways, we should be building good habits that help us live the kind of life we want to live before the Lord.

I think that's well said. Tim Challe is with us today in the Christian Real View talking about his book, Do More Better. We are offering it as our new current offer here on the program for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View. Our number is 1-888-646-2233, or the easiest way to get it is just on our website at thechristianrealview.org. This is an important book, especially at a time of the beginning of the year. It's a short book, only 120 pages, but that's good. And I hope you can get a copy. Go to our website thechristianrealview.org for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View, or call 1-888-646-2233.

More with Tim Challe on productivity next. Do you shop online at amazon.com? If so, you can support the Christian World View through Amazon's Smile program, which donates half a percent of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. All you have to do is go to smile.amazon.com and designate Overcomer Foundation as your charity of choice. The Overcomer Foundation is the official name of the nonprofit organization that directs the Christian World View. There's no catch.

You don't pay more for your purchases. Rather, Amazon directs half a percent of your eligible purchases to the Christian World View. What a great opportunity to benefit this ministry. Again, go to smile.amazon.com and designate Overcomer Foundation as your charity of choice.

Thank you for your support. Social justice is a gospel issue. This has become the mantra of many evangelicals. Rectifying perceived inequities of race, gender, sexuality, poverty, immigration amongst others is considered a top priority. But what exactly is social justice? Is working for social justice a biblical mandate and application of the gospel? Cal Beisner has written an insightful booklet entitled Social Justice, How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel. Also included in this revised 44-page booklet is a copy of the just released statement on social justice and the gospel.

You can order this social justice booklet for a donation of any amount to the Christian World View. Go to theChristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Today's broadcast of the Christian World View was previously aired. Welcome back to the Christian World View radio program. I'm David Wheaton, the host.

Our website is theChristianworldview.org. Today or this weekend will be your final reminder for the Masters College Essay Contest 2016. The deadline is already coming up on Sunday, January 31st. Any time that day, students can have their essay in for that annual contest we hold on this program. We've already received some essays, some students getting them in early, a $4,000 tuition scholarship grand prize for the Masters College and an all-expense-paid trip to visit the college of spring is the first place prize.

There's a $2,000 second-place prize and a $1,000 third-place prize this year. And the essay topic is, I think, a very, very good one. Make you think, discuss from a biblical world view God's grand design and purpose for gender identity and how you would defend biblical roles of men and women in our world today. This is an important topic for the younger generation. Everyone understands particularly the younger generation as they're going to be facing this over and over again in our society. The essay length only is about, let me get the exact number of words, 600 to 750 words.

And so this can easily be done in a day or so. So there's still plenty of time to get your essay in and if you have a student in your life who's interested in going to the Masters College, one of the best Christian colleges in the country, sound on biblical theology and doctrine there in Southern California, encourage them to go to The Christian World View and find out more about the essay contest due Sunday, January 31st. Well, today in the program, we're talking about the biblical call and plan for productivity if you just joined us. And Tim Chalise is our guest. He is a well-known blogger. He blogs prodigiously over at his website, Chalise.com. He's also a book reviewer, the author of several books. His latest book is our new current offer, Do More Better, A Practical Guide to Productivity. It's a 120-page paperback.

It retails for $9.99. We're offering it for a donation of any amount to The Christian World View today. We think this book is going to be very helpful for you to order your life in a way that can be more productive for God's glory and others good. And you can just get in contact with us the usual ways through our website. Easy way to order it, thechristianworldview.org or by phone, 1-888-646-2233.

That's our office number or you could also write to us as well and our address is given throughout the program during the breaks. We have just a few minutes left with Tim and then we'll open up the phone lines and ask some questions like, what struck you as being helpful in this discussion of productivity and what has helped you be productive for God's glory? You know, we all have a system whether we know it or not. It's just the question is whether that system of productivity is a good one that's going to lead us to God telling us, well done, how good and faithful servant is going to result in gold, silver and precious stones rather than wood, hay and stubble. We'll get into those verses later in the program today.

But let's get back to the last few minutes with the interview with Tim Challies. Explain what it means, as you write about in the book, to plan your day. You get into how to plan your day, how to start your day based on the Latin phrase Coram Deo. What does that mean? Yeah, it's this little phrase that means before the face of God or in the presence of God, something along those lines.

I don't think we have an exact translation in English. But what it means is to have this awareness that you are living your life before God. And again, you're living your life for the glory of God. It's not just that God is there, but that God has made you for a purpose.

He has certain expectations upon you as a human being and upon you as a Christian, someone who's in relationship with Him. And so I really believe that as you start your day, you can take just a couple of minutes and just pause and think about the day ahead and plan out the day ahead. And if you're using your tools well, your tools really guide you in doing this to help you understand, okay, here are the things I could do today. Here are the things I must do today.

And here are the things I can do. I, you know, these are the things I'm going to take on or maybe I'll get to. So to try to plan your day well, so you've got a certain number of tasks laid out ahead of you. And these are the things I'm going to accomplish for the good of others and the glory of God in the day ahead. But just that little time in the morning can be so, so helpful in making that work. You talk about your personal life some and some of the things that you are, your areas of responsibility with family, with work, with blogging, with writing, with book reviewing, with your service at church, pastoring, mentoring.

You're juggling a lot, Tim. And I was wondering if you would share with us, maybe give us a picture of what your day is like. Maybe give us a couple days during the week. And, you know, from the time you get up, just kind of give us an overview of how your day operates.

Sure. So I like to get up early. I don't really have a choice. My body wakes me up early. And the very first thing I want to do is read the Bible and pray. I don't really want that to be part of my productivity system.

If you know what I want, if you know what I mean, I want that to kind of transcend that. So I do that first and spend time reading and praying. And then that's usually I'm getting the family up and then I'm starting my work day. You know, the kids are off to school, I'm starting my work day.

And that's where I'm doing what I call that quorum deo. I'm just looking at the things I can do in the day ahead. And now that I'm working from home now most of the time, I'm a writer, and so I'm laying out the tasks I'd like to do. And usually that's a mix of long-term projects, writing a book or working on some articles or essays or something.

And that's some administrative type thing. So there's usually a few things that can be done in a few minutes. And then there's some things that I could work on all day and still barely be making any progress in them. So I try to mix the things like that. And when I'm feeling a little low, I can do some of that busy work, some of that administrative stuff. When I'm feeling creative, I can do those more difficult things. And I set my day up that way. Sunday would be a very different day where I'm at the church, we have a morning and an evening service.

There's often things going on in between. And so I'm setting the day up around people. I'm still starting with the Lord and then I'm doing my little morning review. And then I'm setting it up, how can I help people today? What people do I need to invest in? What people need some of my time? Who do I need to ask how I can pray for them?

Who do I need to follow up with? And so very different days, but in a sense, the same big purpose. How can I do good for these people today? What can I do that would be a blessing to them? That's the way I'm really trying to live my life. Well, that's helpful.

It's always helpful to get a personal example. And so thank you for sharing a bit of your life with us, Tim. Final question has to do with where productivity is seen in scripture. You talk about in your book, the parable of the talents, where in the end, the master says, well done, good and faithful slave.

You are faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master. Just as we conclude today, Tim, perhaps you could talk about how productivity is going to be something that we're going to have to give account for to God and where you see in scripture, encouragements for us to strive for the pursuit of productivity, again, not just to do more, but to do more for God's glory and for the good of others. Yeah, so all throughout the New Testament, we find these calls to do good for others, to be good work zealots or good work extremists, as it says in Titus and all throughout the Pauline Epistles, you find these calls to do good for others. And so for me, that is a huge motivator. I want to do good because I know that brings glory to God. What more could I want in life than to bring glory to God? So I see that connection. I can glorify God if I'm doing good to others.

So what can I do then? And then I see something like the parable of the talents and I'm thinking, okay, God gives us responsibilities. God gives us these things and he expects and demands and is worthy of an accounting. And so I need to be prepared to say, here's what I've done with this thing. You gave me these children.

Here's how I've stewarded them. You give me this opportunity with this website. Well, here's what I've done. And I want to be living in a way with a clear conscience where I can someday say, word, here's what I've done. I know I won't do it perfectly, but I know I can do it well or poorly, depending on how I approach it and depending on my view of productivity. And so my great desire is to do these things well. And at the end of every day, to be able to say, I did it for you, to be able to hand it to the Lord in that sense. Well, I hope you found the conversation with Tim Challies, the author of Do More Better helpful.

I know in doing the interview with him, I learned a lot of things and several things that I certainly want to apply to my own life and own effort, pursuit of productivity. Again, if you just joined us, we did a program or interview today with Tim Challies on the biblical call and plan for productivity in light of his book, Do More Better. It's our new current offer on the Christian worldview. And typically with a current offer, we find a book that we like or a resource, a DVD, and we offer this for a few weeks on a donation basis, and then it goes into our store afterwards. So this particular book is our new current offer.

It retails for $9.99. It's 120-page paperback. It's a short book, but it's solidly biblical and very helpful in the pursuit of productivity. And we're offering it for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View.

If you perhaps want to become more productive yourself or know someone that needs a better system to using your time for God's glory, this would be a good book to get them. And you can just contact us through the usual means to order this book at our website, thechristianrealview.org, or at our office at 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233. Or you can write to us at the Christian Real View, Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

And that address is given right after the end of the program today as well. What I'd like to do for the rest of the show today is open up the phone lines. I wrote down a few points that I thought were helpful to take away in what it means to pursue productivity for God's glory. But I want to open up the phone lines now and get your feedback. And what struck you as being particularly helpful in this discussion on productivity?

Or what has helped you? If you feel like you've developed a system to be productive, maybe you implemented some of the things that Tim was recommending today on having your own system. He talked about three different tools to manage our calendar, our tasks, our information.

And whether you have a computer or not, this is still applicable. You can give us a call in studio with your comments on the interview today or on this topic of productivity. Our toll-free studio number is 1-877-655-6755.

That's 1-877-655-6755. Your thoughts, your feedback on this topic of productivity. We'll take a short break.

We'll come back. We'll get to your phone calls and also some summary points on the pursuit of productivity for God's glory and the others and the good of others. This is David Wheaton, and you're listening to the Christian Worldview radio program. The mission of the Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

For when Christians have a stronger faith and when unbelievers come to saving faith, lives and families and churches, even communities, are changed for the glory of God. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported ministry. You can help us in our mission to impact hearts and minds by making a donation of any amount or becoming a monthly partner.

All donations are tax-deductible. You can give online at thechristianworldview.org or by calling us toll-free, 1-888-646-2233. When you give, we'd like to thank you by sending you a current resource.

Monthly partners can choose to receive resources throughout the year. Call 1-888-646-2233 or go to thechristianworldview.org. Thank you for your support. There's an abundance of resources available in Christian bookstores and online, but the sad reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. A key aim of the Christian Worldview is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages, adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts, and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group, or church. You can also order by calling our office toll-free at 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233. Or visit thechristianworldview.org. Today's broadcast of the Christian Worldview was previously aired. All right, final segment of the day here on the Christian Worldview radio program. And if you missed any of the program today, you can always go to our website, thechristianworldview.org. And we post the audio of the program usually by late Saturday afternoon. The program airs live on Saturday mornings between 8 to 9 a.m. Central Time.

And by the time we get the audio up on our website, it's usually later in the day on Saturday. You can also subscribe to our free podcast if you like. There's information on our website how to do that. You can also sign up for our free weekly email and annual print letter on our website as well. Or you can just call us to do that. A lot of people partake in that and enjoy that.

And our office number is 1-888-646-2233. You know, this issue of productivity has been something that as we started this year that I personally wanted to be able to improve upon. You know, working for in a radio program, doing writing the things I do, it can be easy not in so much of a structured corporate environment, you know, where you come to work and be there at 9 and leave at 5 and so forth.

It's important, it's easy to drift off that and let things that just pop up, not necessarily bad things, but email that comes in or phone calls or other distractions that aren't necessarily bad but can keep you or keep me from being as productive and working on the important things that need to be able to get done for God's glory. I think a good example of this is book writing. Book writing is a long-term project that there needs to be a plan or a system. You don't need to write eight hours a day, but there needs to be a progression towards writing on a regular basis, an overview and a framework and the whole thing.

Having done a couple of books, you might think that that's kind of in the bag for me, but it's not. It's a difficult thing to do just to discipline time, to block out distractions. You know, it's easy just to go check your email box and see what's new. You've got mail, that kind of thing, and so this has been a personal thing for me starting this year and I'm a long way from some of the recommendations that Tim makes in his book, Do More Better, but it's part of the reason I wanted to share it with you today because I think it's that helpful. So I think, number one, productivity starts with understanding God's call and obeying it. It's the old phrase, dissatisfaction leads to action. In other words, if you examine yourself and see what you're doing with your time and realizing that maybe I'm not doing as much as I could do of the gifts and the things, opportunities God's given me for His glory, that dissatisfaction leads to action, to change, to understanding God's call to be productive for His glory. God gives everyone gifts and opportunities in different ways and He rewards us based on our productivity. Matthew 25, I referenced that earlier in the parable of the talents. That starts out by saying, �For the kingdom of heaven is like a man about to go on a journey, this is God, who called his own slaves or servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability and he went on his journey.� Now these aren't necessarily individual skills.

This is the full package of what God gives us in our life, our relationships and our finances and what we work in and so forth. And it goes on to say in this passage, �After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents. Master, you entrusted five talents to me.

See, I have gained five more. His master or God said to him, �Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things.

I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.� And then of course the second one who received two talents brought back two and the one who had been given, I believe one at the beginning, what hid his and he was condemned. And he was shown not to really be a true follower of God because he didn't see it as important to use what he was given for God's glory at all. And so the point of this really is that there is reward.

We don't get rewarded for salvation is not a reward of good works, but there is reward in heaven for doing things that are honoring and glorifying to God. We'll get into that in 1 Corinthians 3 in just a second, the gold, silver and precious stones rather than wood, hay and stubble. So the first thing is productivity starts with understanding God's call for us is to take what we have and what we're doing and use it for His glory and others good. I think the second point that Tim mentioned in the interview is that he doesn't have his spiritual growth as part of his productivity system.

He kind of keeps it separate from that. Whether you want to do that or not, that's up to you. But I do think that is the foundation for our productivity, being in the Word and praying. I think even early in the day is the first thing in the day.

Let's say after you wake up or after breakfast or sometime early in the day to get your mind renewed and to keep yourself directed, your approach directed that day so that you can be thinking of everything you're going to be doing. You've already been washed with Scripture and you think differently. You think that if you don't read the Bible every day, well I read it three days ago. No, there's something that Scripture does. It transforms us when we take it in every day.

We can be thinking the wrong way, approaching the day wrongly, but when we get into the Word and just let it transform us when we pray, it changes us. So I think that's an important foundation to being more productive. Point three is to develop your own system and maybe taking the advice of Tim with some of the tools he mentions, having a tool for your calendar, your events, the information and also the tasks or to-do's that you need to do. Basically all these tools are just kind of like, I often refer to my phone, my iPhone as my backup brain because they're things I can't remember.

I can't remember all my passwords and phone numbers in my mind so I have my backup brain here. So use the tools. Technology can be a distracting thing but it also can be a helpful thing if we control it and it doesn't control us. But even if you aren't into technical things and computers, you can still have sheets of paper. I used to do that before the computer age with schedules and tasks and information and so forth and organizing things according to those things. Having a system to be able to help you be more productive. Point four is just be wary of busyness or lazy busyness as he calls it in answering the urgent over doing what's important in life. You know this information age that we have information easily at our fingertips any moment of the day.

We can check our email, we can check the news, we can watch television, Facebook alerts, Twitter feeds. It robs us of so much of our time and attention. Now some of it's good. We can grow and have a sharper biblical worldview by getting some of this but it can easily overtake us and keep us from doing the really important things in life. And then lastly I'll just say I think that his point about approaching each thing we do each day in that corem deo, whether it's interactions we have, communications, our thoughts with the intentionality of how to glorify God through it, maybe just thinking about who we're going to meet at work or have lunch with and just thinking intentionally about how to glorify God through those interactions with the things we do throughout the day keeps our mind focused the right way. Well thanks for joining us today on the program. Again you can get Do More Better the book, 120 page paperback. It's a short biblical and helpful book.

For donation of any amount to the Christian Real View go to thechristianrealview.org or call 1-888-646-2233. Our address is given right after the program. Don't forget next Sunday January 31 is the deadline for the Master's College essay contest.

Looking forward to next week's program we'll talk about analyze the presidential race as the primaries and caucuses start so be sure to join us for that. You know we do live in a changing world, a world in which God calls us to be productive. You can count on Jesus Christ to help us do that because He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Have a good weekend everyone. We hope today's broadcast turned your heart toward God, His Word and His Son. To order a CD copy of today's program or sign up for our free weekly email or to find out how you can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ go to our website thechristianworldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian World View is a weekly one hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors. Request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401 Excelsior Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401 Excelsior Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian World View. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.