Imagine a pastor concluding a worship service by saying, “Brothers and sisters in Christ, that was a very efficient worship service!”

Imagine a husband taking his wife on a romantic dinner date and saying, “I chose this restaurant and prepared a list of conversation starters so that we can maximally optimize peak date night efficiency.”

Imagine some mothers ending a toddler playdate by saying, “This was a very productive playdate! The children accomplished all the predetermined outcomes—they went on the swings and slides, they laughed and cried, and had exactly three fights in one hour.”

Boundaries for Efficiency

These are laughably strange statements. Worship is not measured by efficiency. Relationships are not about optimization. And play is not evaluated by productivity. As we hear in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Efficiency, optimization, and productivity have a proper place—and an improper place. They are good somewhere, but not everywhere.

In my book Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits, my coauthor and I explore the seemingly strange concept of embracing inefficiency. The world of technology is largely ruled by efficiency, optimization, and productivity. Yet, inefficiency, delight, and rest also have their proper place.  

God established boundaries for things like efficiency, optimization, and productivity when He gave His creation the Sabbath. God describes the Sabbath as follows:

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:13–15)

Sabbath rest helps keep efficiency, optimization, and productivity in their proper place in three different ways:

Sabbath Rest Involves Trust

By taking a day off from working, God invites His people into a relationship of trust. If you are not working, then you are not being productive or efficient. Your inbox is not being tended and your to-do list is not being checked off. This is where the trust comes in—taking time off for Sabbath rest means trusting that God will provide even in our resting. Shutting the computers down and spending time in worship is an act of trust in God. You are trusting that He will provide even when you are not working. You are trusting that time in worship is time well spent even if it is not productive or efficient by the world’s standards.

Sabbath Rest Involves Others

God did not draw the bounds of Sabbath rest narrowly. It is not as if only the people of Israel were invited to a life marked by Sabbath rest while their workers and livestock had to work all day and every day. Though it was not productive or efficient, God included everyone when it came to establishing the bounds of Sabbath rest: children, servants, sojourners, livestock. This would have involved lost wages (or at least a loss of potential income) for the people of Israel. On a spreadsheet, this decision did not compute. And yet, God invited Israel to remember when they were slaves in Egypt and to consider how He mercifully delivered them from bondage.

Sabbath Rest Involves Worship

Worship is part of Sabbath rest. And worship relies on God. Worship is an encounter with God’s Word for you. Worship is a feast of God’s mercy for you. Worship is God’s work of salvation prepared and presented for you. Worship is a gift—and gifts are not measured in efficiency, optimization, and productivity.

Devices, software, and technology in general help us work efficiently, optimize our effort, and be more productive. These are good in their proper place. Inefficiency, delight, and rest are also good in their proper place. The key is keeping the right goods in the right places. God’s gift of Sabbath worship and rest keeps technology in its proper place so that it—and we—can flourish.

Scripture: ESV^®.

Continue the conversation with Redeeming Technology, a practical guide to balancing technology, productivity, worship, and rest through a Christian lens.