I love the color, organizing super-powers, and the way file folders and checklists make me feel productive. Yet my heart is screaming for something more from life than a to-do list. This Checklist Life is no way to live.

I worked as an event planner in the days before smart phones, a time when every event had a physical file, and every file had a checklist of actions that needed to be taken in order for the event to be a success. These files were in a stackable file folder on my desk.

Those pretty rainbow-colored files made me happy because…

  • They were physical testaments to my organizational skills for which I received kudos.
  • They were actual proof of productivity.
  • Nothing was messy or out of place in those files.
  • They were without emotion and drama, where everything lived neat and tidy.
  • They gave very specific instructions on what to do next. Life was black and white in those files.

 

Oh, the organized life!

Organized files complete with checklists are lovely, but that’s not how my life works, and it’s probably not how your life works either. I want a Checklist Life, but it’s lacking what I really need. In my right-now-life, I love reading “how-to” books that fill my tool kit with shiny new tools. The problem is that I already have a tool kit filled with tools that I don’t use. I try to use these tools of tricks and tips, then I make a mistake, and finally I feel like a failure.

And this Achiever hates feeling like a failure.

So what do I do in the discomfort of failure? Buckle down. Find more tools, organize time better, find new systems, do more research, try harder…but that’s not working either. My heart is screaming for something more than a to-do list. It’s begging for something bigger, more substantial, more real. I know that Jesus is the answer to my soul’s cries yet the Achiever in me has the ability to reduce God and His Word to fit into my Checklist Life.

I believe that:

  • The Bible is a set of do’s and don’t’s.
  • Jesus gives commands and is a killjoy.
  • Spiritual disciplines are a duty.

 

But what if I viewed:

  • The Bible as God’s love letter to me and any commands He gives are His promises between us on how we can stay faithful to each other, and how I can live with hope and peace.
  • Jesus’ commands are to be kept, not through my try-hard ways, but only through His equipping and empowering of me by His Holy Spirit so I have a life of plenty and a life of joy.
  • Spiritual disciplines as “God + Jill Time” to listen, laugh, hang out and connect with each other.

 

Instead of checklists and “how-to” books, what I really need is the person of Jesus. What I really need is more of Him and less of my resolutions and my promises to never sin again. What I really need is to quit trying to be something and to take hold of the the person I already am in Christ. What if I viewed my faith as something not to be achieved but enjoyed?

So really Jesus isn’t anything like my file folders

  • Jesus doesn’t give me kudos for my skills. He loves and likes me because I am His child.
  • He isn’t interested in proof of productivity, but He is interested in my heart and me knowing His.
  • Jesus was messy: born in a cow barn, touching lepers, spitting into dirt and rubbing the mud in blind eyes, the Holy of Holies walking among sinners.
  • He was emotional: He got angry, grieved with those who grieved, and laughed at weddings.
  • Jesus gives us instructions, the biggest one being: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And there is nothing black or white about how to love someone.

 

Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, which means that the Checklist Life is no way to live. Achievers, let us keep the files and checklists at the office, and remember that what we really need is the person of Jesus.

Share
Pin
0 Shares