I settled on the front porch with my iced tea and my laptop, hoping to make the task at hand more pleasant: renewing my driver’s license online. Just then, my phone began to buzz with a text from a friend who wanted to talk.
I had a decision to make. Would I stop my task to call this person? Since I knew the conversation might run long, I decided I’d call when my online work was finished.
We all have obligations and people in our lives that need our attention — it’s a balancing act that won’t ever go away. So how do we navigate spending time on both our work and our humans?
The letter of Philippians is full of advice for living in harmony with others by humbly emulating Jesus. The writer of the letter, Paul, urges, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). It is a simple sentence yet a significant truth.
The verse doesn’t say to look out only for the interests of others, neglecting our own needs. Nor does it say to watch out only for ourselves and ignore the needs of those around us.
Paul used the Greek word skopeó, translated as “look out for,” which means “to keep an eye on, to consider, to contemplate or to scrutinize carefully and then act.” When it comes to our tasks, activities and daily responsibilities, we do well to keep a watchful eye on them to make sure they get done. However, we can also mindfully observe the relationships in our lives, knowing there are times when others need us and when we need them.
Think of wearing bifocal glasses: Sometimes you look far away at what’s happening in the distance, but other times you focus on what is right before you. Similarly, we can toggle our focus between our people and our projects.
What does this look like?
Maybe we put our phone in “do not disturb” mode when we are at work, allowing messages from family only and returning texts and calls to others later.
Maybe we teach our kids that when we have an important online meeting, we’ll have the door shut, and they are only to knock in case of emergency.
On the flip side, when we hear that our widowed neighbor needs help weeding her yard, perhaps we ditch our plans for an afternoon of shopping and help her instead.
God empowers us to love our people well without neglecting the duties He has called us to perform. May we love others deeply and perform our work diligently, trusting God to help us creatively find the bandwidth to do both.
Lord, please give me the wisdom and energy both to love my people well and to do my work with excellence, giving You all the glory as I do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
