Saying Goodbye to the Idol of Productivity

I don’t want to sound preachy, girlfriends, but it’s time to retire the phrase, “I’m so busy” from your vocabulary.

I’m a recovering workaholic myself, ever tempted to utter this ugly four-letter word, so I feel like I’m justified in this admonition. I’ve been busy for most of my adult life, saying yes to more than I should, sleeping less than I should, proudly touting around the idol of productivity on my shoulders everywhere I went.

“Busy” is a badge of honor no one has ever been impressed that I’m wearing. I’ve worn myself out hauling that heavy burden around.

Believe it or not, people don’t admire my various degrees of exhaustion, but for some reason, I’ve taken irrational amounts of pride in my busyness. To be clear, I haven’t been busy out of necessity. There are women in the world who have to work multiple jobs to support their family’s basic needs while also trying to raise their children. They are legitimately busy, and legitimately burdened, and legitimately exhausted.

I’ve been busy because I want more, more and more, more and more and more.

Meanwhile, workplace burnout is at an all-time high, with Millennials, Gen Z, and women experiencing the highest levels of stress. The god of productivity prowls around our office suites and kitchens, making his demands for more and more of our time and our sleep as if we can ever win in the race for more.

But what, exactly, is the point? Is God in all of this frenetic hustle? Does he want his people to be exhausted? Is this what the Lord expects of us?

I find it fascinating that God didn’t give a commandment about work. Work existed before the fall and after—it can be a toil or it can be a treasure, depending on our posture toward the work we’ve been given to do.

God doesn’t command his people to work. Instead, God commands that his people rest (Exodus 20:8). The commandment to rest, or to honor the Sabbath, is number four in the list of ten commandments God gave to Moses in the wilderness, where God prepared his people for forty years before they entered the promised land.

The Ten Commandments establish the future patterns for the people of Israel. They are the things that God says will make your community thrive; if you follow them, your lives will be filled with abundance, peace, and joy. Rest is so important that it got 1/10 of this list.

The gift of Sabbath is a direct response to the Egyptian machine the Israelites were rescued from. When God saved his people from Egyptian rule, he rescued them from their slavery to the constant demand of production. The gift of Sabbath broke the bonds the god of productivity had on the hearts and minds of the Israelite people.

When God rescues us, he calls us into this same gift of freedom and worth beyond what we can make, do, or earn.

It’s a hard lesson to learn. I am loved by God because I am God’s child, not because I worked tirelessly to prove my worth to God. It’s so easy for me to say those words but so hard for me to believe.

Would I turn to my children and expect them to earn my love? Never! They have had my love, unconditionally, since before they were born. On top of that, I’ve been advocating for their rest since the day they arrived. Get enough sleep! You need to sleep! Sleep!

So why don’t I love myself in these same ways?

Sabbath is mentioned 154 times in the Bible. It’s kind of a big deal. God commands that we make space to rest for individuals, for communities, for families, for children, for strangers, for animals, and for the land.

God loves his creation so much that he desires for us to do more than produce, consume, and survive. He has made a way for us to flourish. Rest makes space for relationships to thrive. Sabbath makes space for love, not production, not competition, not winning, to be the highest priority. Sabbath, according to theologian Walter Brueggemann, is an act of resistance; it is saying “no” to the culture of now.

I have to keep preaching this, because the idol of productivity reigns with such dominance in my life. He sneaks back in every forty days or so. I’ll be cruising along with good boundaries and balanced routines, saying “no” to this and “yes” to that, until I say fewer and fewer no’s and more and more yes’s, convincing myself that more is better.

“How are you doing?” someone might ask. “I’m so busy,” I reply, proud and sweaty and exhausted.

I’ve done it again, surrendered to the false gods of consumerism. I’ve done it again, forgotten the Lord who said, “Do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25), forgotten the Lord who said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

This is what the Lord has for us, friends. Abundant life, not a frenetic, insane life or busyness and exhaustion. And all we have to do is say yes to the Lord’s rest and no to the demands of more.

There’s a palace of goodness waiting for us there in the fullness of God’s time.

—Written by Sarah Wells. Used by permission from the author.