2 Pe. 1:5-8 reads, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Whenever I read this verse from the previous devotional/blog, I’m always struck by that word, “ineffective.” Immediately, the word “efficiency” pops into my mind. Having worked in administration for about 15 years, I know all too well the balance between efficiency and effectiveness.
Take, for example, the fact that I make these thoughts as a webpage instead of posting the full text in the chat. It just seems inefficient to you all to post something so long when I can just make a quick link. My teammates at CMDA know me well enough that I will spend two hours on something to save me 20 hours over the long term.
This world (myself included) loves efficiency. Sometimes that’s at the risk of effectiveness (I can hear some of you internally barking at a healthcare administrator). At times, the efficiency is such that you can be more effective. Other times it can be for the mighty dollar.
One thing I can promise you on our trip is that there will be many moments that are terribly inefficient. Some of you will try to create order and processes that will work (I’m all for that), but some of what we create may fail miserably. Missions work in countries like Honduras is very challenging because you have to be flexible & realize that order is not natural. (Nor is efficiency for some!)
God created order at the beginning. The parallels of the six days and rest on the seventh in Genesis one are brilliant! Jesus tried to delegate order in the feeding of the 5,000, but he had to create it himself (as told in all four gospels, Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14).
37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties (Mark 6:37–40, ESV)
When leading teams and going on trips like this, I’ve often worn a rubber band to remind myself to be flexible. If I found myself not being flexible, I’d snap it to remind myself to snap out of it. (After a few years, people started snapping it for me, so I ceased my self-punishing spiritual practice.)
May we all prepare ourselves now in prayer for the moments where efficiency is not as we would design it, and we need to be flexible. Be specific in praying for Brad & Linda, as well as Kathleen, as leaders of the entire team and the clinic(s), respectively.
Just DAYS left!