Gradually Then SuddenlySample

SLOW PRODUCTIVITY

In the day and age of never-ending and ever-hastening deadlines, Georgetown professor Cal Newport advocates for an approach to work called “slow productivity.” Slow productivity is slowing your pace to increase productivity. I know that sounds as counterintuitive as it is countercultural, but it’s the law of diminishing return. Sometimes less is more and more is less!

If you work seven days a week, it will come back to bite you. Why? Because you cannot break spiritual laws—spiritual laws will make or break you. And one of them is the Sabbath.

The seventh day is a gift from God—a day of rest and recovery. It’s a day to recreate. It’s not only one of the Ten Commandments; in terms of words, it’s the longest. The Sabbath is God’s way of reminding us that we don’t keep the planets in orbit. The Sabbath is a day for daydreaming.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. (Exodus 20:8-10 NIV)

Many people take pride in breaking this commandment, but busyness is not a virtue. Patience is a virtue! How’s your pace? Is it sustainable? What are your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rhythms?

Letting the ground lie fallow is not laziness; it’s holiness. It’s a biblical principle that takes tremendous discipline. Just as the seventh day is holy, so is the seventh year (Exodus 23:10-11).

I know the old axiom—idle hands are the devil’s workshop. And I’m certainly not advocating for the abdication of duty. But I also know that fallow ground becomes the fertile ground where God ideas take root and bear fruit.

“There remains … a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. … Let us … make every effort to enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:9, 11 NIV).

God of rest, teach me to slow my pace and honor the rhythm You designed. Help me find renewal in stillness and strength in Sabbath obedience.