Better Chaplain Series - Don't Let It Die On Your Desk

Think about the last thing you really didn’t want to do; maybe it was a purchase request or a report or an inspection. Maybe you’re in the midst of it. Maybe it’s long overdue. Maybe you should be doing it instead of reading this article.

Is your desk (or e-mail) where projects go to die? Do you serve in a position with way too much paperwork and you’re only finishing projects because someone has to remind you?

If it’s not you, can you think of someone whose desk is a blackhole of productivity squashing procrastination? I like to think my desk isn’t that sort of place, but I can instantly think of a dozen desks that are…and the oldest thing on my to-do list is from September (writing this in January), so it probably is my desk too.

Chaplain, you are thus called:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, not for men. ~ Colossians 3:23

Would Jesus be happy with that report stuck in your e-mail holding up the whole process? If he was your supervisor, would you make sure you turned in a quality product?

Maybe you’re thinking that what you're holding is unjust and by delaying the process you’re helping someone. Passive aggressiveness is never the answer, so if it’s unjust, you need to disapprove it and fight it, but move it off your desk! If it’s wrong, say so and call for improvement.

If your desk is renowned for holding up whole processes, then repent, and press towards the upward call your have in Christ Jesus your Lord. I’ll log-off now, I have a September item on my list to go check off.

More:

1. In the “Zero Inbox” technique of e-mail management we’re told not to read an e-mail twice, but to make a decision on it, and either respond immediately, or make a task to respond. Teddy Roosevelt said, “In the moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Indecision should never be the mark of a Christian, was Jesus ever indecisive?

2. Read Luke 14:21, what is the speed by which God expects us to respond?

3. But we say, the problem is with bureaucracy! Why then does Ecclesiastes 5:9 say that it is gain for a land to have a king involved in plowing fields? If your bureaucracy is running poorly, perhaps the problem is who looks at you when you look in the mirror.

4. Resources:

Got Questions Ministries. “What does the Bible Say about Procrastination?” GotQuestions.org. Accessed 13 January 2025. https://www.gotquestions.org/procrastination-Bible.html

Slugs and Bugs. Whatever You Do (Colossians 3:17,23), on Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs, Volume 1, Slugs and Bugs Music, 2014.

Perman, Matt. What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

Newport, Cal. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016.