In today’s downsized and streamlined work force, it is quite stressful for employers as they will typically be given many tasks to delegate and each client will want it done “yesterday” as they like to say. Trying to do everything at once is a prescription for going insane. But for the Christian there is a model we can follow for getting our jobs done through prioritization and sticking to the task at hand. The model we can follow is that of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Nehemiah was charged with the overwhelming task of having the walls rebuilt around Jerusalem. Without those walls, the city was open to attack. It is said that people were building the wall with a trowel in one hand and a weapon in the other. Yet there were those who wanted to interfere with this task. This passage in Nehemiah chapter 6 describes how Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah were trying to interfere with the project:

Nehemiah 6:1-3 (KJV)

1 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)

2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

You can only do one task at any given time. Although you may have many open and outstanding projects, you can still only focus on one task at a time. For Nehemiah, the task was to get the wall built as quickly as possible because the people were discouraged and Jerusalem was vulnerable. Others like Sanballat tried to sidetrack the leader of the project yet Nehemiah’s only response was that he was busy with a very important work.

If you work in an office environment, it is not hard to find the numerous time wasters that can remove you from the task at hand. There are those who love to hold meetings just to remind everyone who is in charge. There are the office “clowns” who spend more time making everyone laugh than they do getting any work done. And we all know the office busybody who walks from cubicle to cubicle looking to see what everyone is doing. There are groups congregating at the copy machine and around the box of donuts.

But as a Christian, you need to avoid these time wasters and learn how spot them before you walk across them. Then, you can stick to the task at hand and be much more effective and have a better Christian testimony too.

Suggested Reading:

Management

Peter F. Drucker. Harper Paperbacks 1993, Paperback, 864 pages, $14.50

Getting Organized

Chris Crouch. Dawson Publishing 2004, Paperback, 192 pages, $15.89