Matt Perman Quotes

We are to be generous not just in the results of our work, but also IN our work.

In other words, ongoing peace of mind comes through faith in Christ expressed in day-to-day life. This is the kind of peace that can endure even when everything is going haywire and we are simply unable to keep up with things. Why? Because it is not based on us. Just as we do good works from justification rather than for justification, we are also to do good works from peace rather than for peace. With gospel-centered productivity, peace comes first, not second.

Technology, hardware, and capital can be copied easily. What can't be copied easily is the culture and human capacity that create those in the first place and does so in a way that engages not just functionally with people, but also emotionally so that people want what your organization offers.

Superficial efficiency seems cheaper at first, but it costs more the long run, with the cost being pushed off onto someone other than the one who saves a few bucks.

We need to learn and remind ourselves every day that God's favor - His blessings and answers to prayer - comes to us not on the basis of our works, but on the basis of the infinite merit of Jesus Christ. - Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Everyday Life

The chief arena in which we serve God is the vocation of our everyday lives. At the same time, as we see here, God also calls us to go beyond and meet needs wherever they are as we have opportunity to do so. The

Slack work is like vandalism because it makes life harder for people - just like vandalism.

Our aim in delegating is not simply to make our own lives better and free up our time. It is also to build up the other person.

One of the best places for efficiency is being efficient with things so that you can be effective with people. If

Love is the guiding principle of the Christian life, and generosity is the chief way love manifests itself in the world of work, our communities, and society.

The way we go about handling our email, making appointments, running meetings, attending classes, and running the kids to where they need to go are not distinct from the everyday life of sanctification that God calls us to but are themselves a fundamental part of it. We are to "be wise" in them just as we are to be wise in the things that directly pertain to salvation; indeed, the way we go about them is an expression of our Christlikeness and sanctification.

The fundamental way to know what's best next - to make good decisions in an age of unlimited options - is to be a person of character.

The only way to be productive is to realize we don't HAVE TO be productive. Our goal is to PLEASE God, not APPEASE God.

Am I desiring and seeking the temporal and eternal good of my neighbor with the same zeal, ingenuity and perseverance that I seek my own? - John Piper

It is not loving to impose our own grid onto others. We need to understand their situation and their needs accurately, and this comes from listening to them, not coming in with our own assumptions.

Four Reasons the Doctrine of Vocation Is Essential to Missions 1. It shows how everyone can be involved in more ways than just giving and sending. 2. It shows that the gospel has social implications, not just personal implications. 3. It shows us how to use our faith in a tactful way in the public arena. 4. It is in our vocations that we take our faith into the world and the gospel spreads most fully.

Without a gospel-centered approach to productivity, we can easily fall into a law-based approach to the Christian life that kills our joy and freedom

Michael Horton gets at the heart of this: "The heart of most religions is good advice, good techniques, good programs, good ideas, and good support systems. . . . But the heart of Christianity is Good News. It comes not as a task for us to fulfill, a mission for us to accomplish, a game plan for us to follow with the help of life coaches, but as a report that someone else has already fulfilled, accomplished, followed, and achieved everything for us. Good advice may help us in daily direction; the Good News concerning Jesus Christ saves us from sin's guilt and tyranny over our lives and the fear of death. It's Good News because it does not depend on us. It is about God and his faithfulness to his own purposes and promises.

One way to know if you are working in your strengths is to ask yourself, "Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?" That's what you want for your role: You want to be doing what you do best every day.

We need to care about beauty and not just the utility of our products because people are not only rational but also emotional. We need to treat people as whole people. This means caring about purity and the emotional side of human nature, not just utility.

don't ask yourself, "What tasks need to be done?" Ask yourself, "What outcomes need to be accomplished?" Then determine the activities that will get you there.

A rightly oriented Christianity causes us to care not only about ourselves and our families but also about our communities, cities, and society generally.

Excellence in our work is actually a form of generosity and love, and poor quality is a form of stinginess and selfishness.

meant well. But I was looking for real help. Yet all I got was what seemed like an overspiritualized dismissal. Many of us have experienced similar push-back from well-intentioned Christians when seeking to learn about practical subjects. A friend of mine who has a lot going on but is doing it all very well was told by one of his pastors that he should take it easy and not do too much because it "causes worry." And sometimes when things get overwhelming, it is suggested that

God hasn't given us all the time we need because he wants us to rely on other people as well as our own resources and gifts. God has given us all we need, to be sure, but the mistake is thinking that all we need is time. What

More important than efficiency is effectiveness - getting the right things done. In other words, productivity is not first about getting more things done faster. It's about getting the right things done.

With gospel-centered productivity, peace comes first, not second. the mistake we often make is to make peace of mind the result of things we do rather than the source.

Productivity comes from engagement, not tight control; when we are motivated, we don't need to tightly control ourselves (or others).

All of this is because our conscious mind is intended as a focusing tool, not a storage place. When we seek to keep all the things we have to do in our head, they constantly pull at our attention and become a large source of our stress.

These two principles correspond to the two areas of effectiveness that we've encountered: personal leadership and personal management. "Know what's most important" is the arena of personal leadership; "put it first and actually do it" is the arena of personal management.

If Jesus simply came to tell us what to do and provide moral instruction so we could try harder to please God, then his life would have been an utter failure.

True productivity is not first about efficiency - doing things right and doing them quickly - but effectiveness - doing the right things.

When we practice good delegation - stewardship delegation - we are not simply enabling ourselves to get more done. We are serving others and building them up according to God's own purposes for his people.

Shoddy work is not just shoddy work. It's a failure of love.

embracing the truth that God accepts us apart from good works is the precise thing that causes us to excel in good works.

Putting the other person first equals maximum productivity.

Intrinsic motivation trumps extrinsic motivation every time.

Paul is essentially saying that through living in a Christ-honoring way among unbelievers in the world - in the context of our jobs, communities, trips to the grocery store, and everything else we do in everyday life - the light of the gospel shines through our behavior, with the result that some people come to faith.

The knowledge worker cannot be supervised closely or in detail. He must direct himself toward performance and contribution