How to be Productive

By Grant Gaines

In 1908, Henry Ford produced his first Model T car. With nothing else like it on the road at the time, people lined up and down the block outside the Ford Factory eagerly waiting to get their hands on one of these bad boys.

As the demand increased more and more, Henry Ford realized he needed to do something different because while he wasn’t having any problem creating demand for his new automobile, his factory was having quite a difficult time keeping up with all the demand.

You see, the way a Model T car was built from 1908-1913 is that one or two people would undertake the massive process of constructing the car from scratch every single time a customer wanted to buy a new car. Can you image how lengthy an instruction manual that must have been!? And to think that we complain about having to put together a Christmas toy!

But in 1913, Ford invented what we now know as the “assembly line.” No longer did one person build the entire car by themselves, they now only had to focus on putting together one specific part of the vehicle and let someone else focus on their part of the car.

The assembly line was so effective that it reduced the time it took to manufacture a Model T from 12 hours to two hours and thirty minutes. In other words, you could build four cars with an assembly line in the time it would have taken you to build only one car without the process.

Though the pre-assembly line workers labored much harder than those who worked in a factory, they only accomplished a fraction of the labor because of how inefficient their process was. They worked harder but accomplished less – what a sad equation to be a part of!

But that’s the exact state the Israelites found themselves in during the time of Haggai the prophet – they worked their tails off but failed to see the desired results. Before I explain “why” the Israelites were floundering in inefficiency, it’s important to know the context of the story.

Because of the Israelites’ sin and lack of trust in the Lord, God disciplined His chosen people by putting them in a 70 year “Time-Out” in the nation of Babylon. After the 70 years of captivity were completed, God moved in the heart of King Cyrus of Persia to allow the captive Israelites to return to their land and rebuild the Temple (2 Chronicles 36:23). (Before we move on, isn’t it insane how awesome God is? Why would any king willingly give back a giant chunk of land and free labor force like King Cyrus did unless the Lord moved His heart to do so!? That’s why 1Timothy 2:1-2 commands us to pray for our leaders because God is able to use the most pagan leaders to accomplish His will when His people pray!)

Haggai was with the Israelites when they returned to their native land and it was there that the Lord began to speak through him. But rather than flattering the Israelites with words of encouragement and Pinterest-worthy Bible verses, God chose to rebuke the Israelites for their “me-first” attitude as can be seen from God’s rhetorical question to His people in Haggai 1:4 (NLT), “Why are you living in luxurious houses while My house [Temple] lies in ruins?”

Apparently the Israelites, though King Cyrus had sent them back to their land with the expressed purpose of rebuilding the Temple, had neglected that duty completely and instead focused on building up their own homes and comfort.

But what’s surprising about this “me-first, God-second strategy” the Israelites were implementing is that they were actually hindering themselves and their own livelihood through this maligned set of priorities – “You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because My house [Temple] lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills-a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get” (Haggai 1:9-11, NLT).

Much like the laborers in the pre-assembly line days, the Israelites were working from sunup to sundown but were barely seeing any results. Why? Because they were prioritizing their own success over the Lord’s.

While it is easy to judge the Israelites living in those days for not putting God first, we must be careful not to fall into the same trap. In today’s world where there is so much to distract you – social media, entertainment, work, school, sports, friends, and so on, it is understandable to see how one could fall into the same me-first lifestyle of the Israelites.

But just like the Israelites in this passage, we must not be fooled to believe that if we just pursued our needs, wants, and desires before seeking God that we will be taken care of. In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite when He famously said, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these thing [your needs, wants, and desires] will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). Obviously Jesus isn’t promising that if you pursue God and work in a ministry that you will get any and everything your heart desires, but rather that God will provide all you need and give you an unspeakable joy that surpasses whatever sports car, bank account number, or social status that you may have originally set out to achieve.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to trust. Do you trust God enough that if you do His will above your own that He will take care of you?