This week's Bible Study - June 8, 2008
Extraordinary Wisdom for Everyday Living
Three Rules for Working Smart
 Background Scripture:
Proverbs 6:1-15
Quote of the Week:
“It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer .”
-- Albert Einstein
You've probably heard the phrase about working smarter rather than working harder. At least that thought is prevalent in my job. Usually when my management starts talking about working smarter, it means that there will be more work and fewer people to do it and our schedule won't shift accordingly - oh, and the quality of the work still needs to be as high as before. So, um, work smarter (whatever that means). There are a lot of people who put many hours into their jobs, but seem to accomplish very little. It's not as if they loaf and look for something else to do, but their efforts, however well intended, are often misguided or aimless. They may work for weeks on a product that nobody requested or wanted. It seems like working a little smarter would have been a very good idea, if they only knew what that meant.
This also happens in athletics, especially where the coach doesn't truly understand the sport. I played on my college's tennis team, and our tennis coach was one of the assistant football coaches. He knew a lot about getting people in shape, but he knew next to nothing about tennis, putting us at a severe disadvantage. To his credit, we were very much in shape, but that didn't help our tennis game. My sons have played on high school tennis teams, where the coaches seemed to know more about tennis, yet even in that situation, their practices were not centered around what would make them better tennis players (doing drills and working on skills), but finding out who the better tennis players were. The amount of time invested in practices probably could have been much more useful to the team.
This idea of working smarter applies to just about all aspects of life. We may invest an inordinate amount of time in doing what we think we need to do, but it may not bring the results we are looking for. In a relationship, you need to understand the other person and how to deal with them - if you deal with someone only as you want to be dealt with, you will often find yourself fighting a losing battle. There are tons of books on relationships that can help one learn how to relate to others, and there are many resources that can help you learn how to be more effective in just about any endeavor. If we did these things smarter, we'd probably get better results. This lesson focuses on Proverbs 6; as three different areas are briefly discussed that will help us to become more effective and work smarter in our lives as believers.
This passage starts out by speaking as to a son, giving advice that a father would give. Fatherly (and motherly) advice is very helpful to a child, as there are similar traits that exist in a family, between parents and children. The lessons learned in life are very beneficial to be passed to the next generations. Often, we learn things that can help our children avoid mistakes or to give them a pattern of success. Are we sharing those things, even if it involves being honest about mistakes that we regret?
The passage speaks of putting up security for your neighbor and making some type of deal that makes you a servant to them. It seems that we can easily become indebted to others in the interest of a short term fix. I don't think most of us are thinking that it would be something held over us for a long period of time, but it can happen. Maybe it's more in the movies, but you've probably seen the classic story line where someone did something in years past and ends up having to fall in line to obey someone else for the rest of their lives. They've basically become a slave of sorts.
I can think of a few times when I made some pretty stupid knee jerk choices to try and avoid a short term problem, ending up with very long term commitments. While they may not be your neighbor (as the passage specifies), there are many companies that are more than willing to help you out in your time of need, only to charge you an exorbitant amount of interest. Ask any kid in college how many credit card companies just want to give them money. "Go ahead, take it! You deserve it! Get yourself something nice - in fact, get yourself a lot of nice things - We'll cover you, because you are special". That can appeal to many people, so they apply and begin a trend of spending that may last for months or even years. Eventually, it catches up with them and they find themselves as servants to paying off massive amounts of debt. It is all too prevalent today.
I believe the key point of this passage is that we need to be careful about the types of decisions that we make that can cause us to become servants to anyone else. The passage doesn't tell you to just drop it and ignore the situation. In fact, the damage caused by ignoring that responsibility can be much worse. As I had opportunity to be in the local courthouse a few months ago, it was amazing the number of lawsuits that were being brought based upon financial obligations. The key here is to do what you need to do to get yourself out of those situations that bind you. It may require making some type of arrangement that you can live with to settle things, but work to end that long term servant mentality to another. As long as you are a servant to another, you are limiting your usefulness as a servant of Christ.
Who needs a break? Who wants to go on vacation? Well, not surprisingly, all of us need a break from work or school or lives of extreme busyness from time to time. It seems that our culture has pushed families and individuals to the edge, so that we must keep working just to stay afloat. For many people, this has resulted in two or more jobs just to make ends meet. This way of living has hit many believers, so that nearly every second of every day is booked. We all need a break from time to time and those breaks can be very rewarding and invigorating. However, these breaks can also become addicting.
This passage warns against becoming a sluggard. Maybe a better translation that fits today may be a couch potato. We have the luxury of many entertainment venues in our homes - from television to movies to internet to game systems to so many other things. I know of folks who have become so addicted to different games that they lose sleep and it impacts their performance at work or school, assuming they continue to go. In my first year of college, a few students dropped out because they stayed up all night, almost every night, playing fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons - yes, it was a geek school, and many years before the more popular games of today. Some of these same things are available where people work and it becomes easy to avoid work.
The advice was to look at one of the smallest, yet most industrious creatures, the ant. I've seen millions of ants in my life, but never have I seen one that is just kicking back, chewing on a blade of grass. They are always busy. There isn't a foreman ant that watches them work, to ensure they do their tasks - they just do what they need to do to provide for their basic needs. I think most people begin with the best intention of taking care of themselves and devoting time to their work. However, over time some people begin to look for the breaks more than the work and it catches up with them. You add to this the financial debt that people face and they have created a very speedy treadmill that forces them to stay busy, lest they meet fall into financial ruin.
We need to balance our lives, so that we aren't caught on that treadmill that has no end in sight. And, then when we have done that, we need to ensure that we give the appropriate amount of time to work, and do not become sluggards. A little bit of rest and relaxation is needed, but when the intent becomes making work a background task, many problems begin to arise. Put the honest amount of time into your job. Don't let it become the driver in your life, but make sure you stick with the task at hand.
As believers, we need to realize that this applies to other areas of our lives, as well. We truly need to be active in our faith, involved in some groups of fellowship with other believers, involved in prayer and Bible Study, sharing our faith as the opportunity arises and so forth. It becomes too easy to take a mental vacation, only to find out that days or even weeks can go by between the times you think about God. As you think back in your life, you'll probably fine the following true - a prolonged absence from God puts a big distance between you and Him. That relationship isn't like climbing a mountain - when you rest - you can camp at a certain level for hours, days or weeks - and still be at that same level. It's more like paddling upstream - when you rest and put the oars in the boat, you will float back downstream. You're still in the stream, but it takes effort to get back to where you were and the closeness you experience with God.
This last part of this passage speaks of a scoundrel and a villain, who has a corrupt mouth. As you think of that thought, there are likely occupations that may come to mind. This is what some people think of with certain types of salesmen. An unscrupulous salesman will say anything to make the sale, without any intention of following through. They openly plot evil with deceit in their hearts. Years ago, I worked for another company and I had to travel to their main office on the east coast. As I was waiting to talk to the manager I would be working for, he told me to sit down while he finished his phone call. I heard him say "we can do that, we can do that, we can do that". After he hung up, he looked at me and said "we aren't going to do that!" How's that for a first impression?
I don't think that there are a lot of folks in our churches who are openly plotting evil against others. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I hope not. However, there are many who, purposefully or not, stir up dissension. If you've been part of churches for a number of years, you've probably heard of church splits. These can happen for a variety of reasons, but seldom are they based upon doctrine or serious faith issues. Often, it is due to the things that certain people are saying - spreading rumors or sowing seeds of dissension against the leadership.
There are others who tear down individuals with their speech. They tend to carry in their back pocket a 'bad list' of mistakes that others have made in their past. When the time is right, they unload that list on others, or even in the presence of that individual. The list may even be true, but what is gained by continually speaking of it? There comes a point when we as believers should just let that go, even if we have been wronged. Ephesians 5:29 says "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear" I think we've all had some problems here - saying things that we can never take back. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to hold on to a 'good list' of things about others that we appreciate and use that to help build them up, rather than tear them down? When is the last time you shared words of appreciation with others? Appreciation builds relationships, whereas condemnation tears them down. There are moments in our lives where a detrimental word can cause much harm, or a supporting word can bring much relief. Our relationships are much improved if we can help build others up, and remove the bitterness from our minds. Are our words building or tearing down? If we think that we can dig into others to get the best of them, we are going to bring disaster on ourselves.
Closing
Truthfully, none of this is any real surprise to us, right? We know that we shouldn't become 'slaves' to anyone. We know that we need to work. We know that our words are important. It makes sense that we need to work smarter in areas of our lives, but we still have real issues doing it. Knowing and doing are two different things. There may be reasons why we are stymied from doing what we know we should.
As believers, it can be possible for us to invest time in 'religious' or 'spiritual' things, and still not be able to gain any ground. Our focus just may be on the wrong thing. In another study I was looking at this week, I began to think about how much of our lives we spend trying to keep from doing the wrong things. Life can become an obstacle course, trying to avoid this thing or that thing. We may surround ourselves with people who help us avoid the areas which, honestly, we should try to avoid. However, that leads to a defensive posture of life. How much ground do you gain by avoiding something bad? Not a lot, really. I believe that God is calling us to desire Him - hunger after His word; ask, seek, knock - pursue Him; seek a renewed spirit and a clean heart; and just desire Him as we go forward. When we are only avoiding the minefields of life, we find ourselves walking timidly, without direction. Perhaps we need to change our focus so that we are seeking God. As we desire Him, we will begin to desire His ways.
We may also need to move out of our comfort zone. Each person who reads this has different life experiences. We've all made mistakes. We've all had successes. We've all had things happen to us that seem unfair. Sometimes, these things can hold us down - we may even realize it, but we tend to hold onto these things as our pets - the reason we give for not doing what God has called us to do (and what we know we should do). Admittedly, there is a risk involved in giving up these pets, because it puts us in a place where we don't have control. Isn't that right where God wants us? He is looking for our reliance upon him. So, if you want to work smarter, do your part, but allow God to have the control of what you do - and then just follow his leading.
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