Many people may lose food assistance from the government as the shutdown drags on.
Are you ready to help if the family next door needs a meal?
What if someone on your block stops receiving paychecks, and the government safety nets are not available any longer?
Throughout history, Christians have rallied to meet the needs of those around them. The widow, the orphan, the sick, and the suffering have found help from those who hope in Christ.
Government programs fill many roles that care for the most needy these days.
If the government stops, are we ready to serve?
Most of us want to serve.
Most say we want to help when people are hurting.
But the question of a needy neighbor brings a hard reality home– we’re not ready to carry that kind of weight.
Many are not serving the needy and are not ready to serve if the need arises.
Not because you’re a bad person. Not because you don’t care.
But because you’re buried in a battle with your own dysfunction.
If you are going to live a life of proactive productivity, you have to ruthlessly eliminate your productivity killers.
The Christians who are most ready to serve others are the ones who have their lives in order.
Many Christians who are stuck-they always want to help but struggle to follow through.
The Christians who are stuck are the ones whose personal chaos consumes all their margin.
Three things keep people from living productively:
1. Dysfunctional marriages
When your marriage is cold, conflicted, or barely hanging on, all your emotional energy is devoted to managing that wreckage. You don’t have the bandwidth to notice when your neighbor is struggling. You’re just trying to survive your own home.
2. Mountains of debt
When you’re drowning financially, you won’t be generous. Being paycheck to paycheck leaves you on the edge of life, not on the edge of your seat to serve.
3. Secret sexual sin
Many potential leaders won’t step forward because they are losing private battles with sin. Being enslaved to pornography keeps people hiding in conviction, not serving in confidence.
Sound familiar?
Remember what Paul says in Titus 3:14:
“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.“
Unproductive doesn’t mean “not busy.”
It means fruitless.
And here’s the hard truth: you won’t be fruitful when your own life is in chaos.
A woman buried in debt can’t be generous when crisis hits.
A man in a bitter marriage can’t bring peace to others’ conflicts.
A person enslaved to sexual sin can’t step into roles that require integrity and leadership.
Your personal dysfunction doesn’t just hurt you. It fuels an unfruitful life.
Look at Titus 2 right before the “learn to devote yourselves” command.
Paul describes productive Christian households:
Older men are self-controlled, sound in faith
Older women are reverent, teachers of what is good
Younger women love their husbands and children, are self-controlled, and pure
Younger men are self-controlled in every way
Everyone works with integrity
Notice the pattern? Productive ministry flows from ordered personal lives and homes.
Maybe you’ve heard, “Ministry comes from the overflow.”
You can’t give what you don’t have. A disastrous marriage can’t model sacrificial love. Chaotic finances can’t meet others’ needs. Secret sin saps sacrificial service.
What is the path forward?
1. Stop pretending you’re fine.
The first step toward productivity is honesty. Name the sin or dysfunction. Confess it to someone who can help. Stop hiding behind “I’m just really busy right now.”
Admit when you’re not too busy, but you’re buried. Pretending otherwise keeps you stuck.
2. Address the root, not just the symptoms.
You can’t serve your way out of a broken marriage. You can’t volunteer your way out of crushing debt. You can’t “try harder” your way out of sexual sin.
You need help. You need teaching. You need support. You need brothers and sisters who will walk with you through the mess.
3. Build margin so you can serve.
Once you start addressing the root issues, you’ll notice something: you have bandwidth growing again.
Your emotional energy isn’t consumed by marital conflict. Your financial stress isn’t constant. Your shame isn’t paralyzing you.
And suddenly, you can look outward. You can notice when someone else is hurting. You can step in to help.
Start with small acts of service as you build a track record of stability.
Paul says in Titus 3:8 that good works are “excellent and profitable for everyone.“
Everyone includes you.
A well-ordered life is a fountain of service.
When your marriage is healthy, your finances are stable, your sin is confessed, you are more available and able to help others.
Your stable marriage becomes a model for younger couples.
Your financial health creates margin to be generous.
Your sexual integrity frees you to lead without shame.
You become useful.
Not because you’re perfect. But because you’re not buried anymore.
If you know you’re stuck, pick one area and take one step this week: Identify and Invite.
Identify which productivity killer is most impacting you: marriage, finances, or purity.
Invite someone older and wiser into your situation and ask them for help.
You won’t change things overnight. But you can take the first step.
God saved you to make you useful. Start by getting free so that you can devote yourself to being fruitful.