Let’s avoid the traps of making productivity an unhealthy obsession with results or a very well-intentioned goal we can never reach. Let’s understand productivity correctly—as making the best use you can of the resources God has placed in your hands—and use it as a means of serving our Lord and the people around us. This proper understanding will fill our daily work and rest with joy.

What Is Productivity?
Productivity can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Usually, when hearing the word productivity, most people think about getting as many things done in as little time as possible. Others dream about perfect, color-coordinated calendars and completely checked-off to-do lists. For some, productivity is really about completing ambitious projects, even if it means putting off sleep (and maybe showering) for a few days (or weeks).
To be sure, productivity involves focus, calendars, lists, and determination. But productivity, properly understood, is much more than that. From a Christian perspective, productivity is making the best use you can of the resources God has placed in your hands. Productivity is taking your time, energy, gifts, and focus and using them wisely for the glory of God and the good of your neighbor. Productivity is not mainly about speed, coordination, or influence. It is not about getting the results you want. Productivity is mainly about faithfulness. It is about trusting God’s results will prevail. Productivity is rejoicing in the Lord while walking diligently in the good works he has prepared for us, trusting that he makes our path straight.
We often miss this. We tend to make productivity an unhealthy obsession with results. We also tend to make productivity a godly goal we can never reach. Those are terrible traps that suck out the joy from our work and our rest. Here’s how they look.
Don’t make productivity an unhealthy obsession.
The first trap is the easiest to recognize. We are so preoccupied with efficiency that we forget the reason we’re called to be productive in the first place—love. We forget that, as Christians, our mission is the mission God gave to us—to make disciples of all nations, loving our Lord, and loving our neighbor. Our projects are not the project. But we get our apps and calendars and habit trackers and we make following our plan priority #1 in our lives. We forget that our goals are not always aligned with God’s goals, and we cling to our agenda even when the Spirit confronts our rigidness and puts before us an unexpected opportunity to serve in love that we should embrace.
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The redemption theory holds that humor’s essence is found in humanity’s amused perception of ambiguity and incongruence, but also in God’s provision of humor as something that helps us deal with disorder, ambiguity, and pain that exist in a fallen world.

How many philosophers does it take to explain a joke? Quite a few, as it turns out. And not only philosophers. Psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists have exerted themselves to explain exactly what makes people laugh. Although everybody understands intuitively what humor is, the concept of humor is still elusive, being difficult to define in a way that encompasses all of its facets.
Humor may evoke a sly grin or it may detonate explosive laughter. It might be conveyed through words or images or actions. We find it in in a vast array of situations, including photos, interpersonal encounters, articles, and skits. It takes on a wide range of forms, from knock-knock jokes to slapstick physical comedy to puns to double entendre.
There is humor in which the joker deprecates himself or herself, such as Oscar Levant’s quip, “Under this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character” or British politician Boris Johnson’s statement after having been demoted in Parliament: “My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters.”
Conversely, there is humor that deprecates other persons or social groupings. Consider Dorothy Parker’s wit directed against one of her contemporaries: “The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature.” Or, Roger Kimball’s wit directed against America’s scholarly class who consider themselves independent minds but are “huddled together in bovine complacency, mooing ankle-deep in its own effluvia, safe within its gated enclosure.”
In thus recognizing the considerable diversity on offer when it comes to humor, many intellectuals and comedians have drawn conclusions about the essence of humor. With that in mind, this post will explore seven of those theories, offering examples that confirm the theory and examples that call that theory in question. Finally, it will offer an alternative—theological—explanation of the essence of humor.
Here are seven of the most prominent theories about humor:
1. The Superiority Theory
Some theorists, including philosophers Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and Roger Scruton, believe the essence of humor is its ability to bring laughter to the masses but shame for whoever is the butt of the joke. Thus, according to this theory humor rides on its ability to make a portion of the audience feel superior to another person or group of people. For example: “If you were any dumber, you’d have to be watered twice a week.”
However, this theory doesn’t quite work because, just as we are able to win competitions without necessarily gaining a feeling of superiority, we are able to tell and hear jokes without necessarily feeling superior to the person who is the butt of the jokes. For example: “Police were called to a daycare, where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.”
2. The Incongruity-Resolution Theory
Some theorists, including philosophers Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Soren Kierkegaard, believed that the essence of humor is found in pointing out incongruities. Other philosophers have revised the theory to say that the essence of humor is the resolution of an incongruity. For example: “I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.” Or, Groucho Marx’s quip: “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
Yet, not all reinterpreted incongruities are humorous; conversely there are good examples of humor that doesn’t involve the resolution of an incongruity. For example: “A man at the dinner table dipped his hands in the mayonnaise and then ran them through his hair. When his friend looked astonished, the man apologized: “I’m so sorry. I’m quite embarrassed. I thought it was spinach.’”
3. The Benign Violation Theory
Some recent theorists, such as Thomas Veatch, argue that the essence of humor is the non-threatening violation of some type of norm—moral law, social codes, linguistic norms, or similar. For example: As Demitri Martin once quipped: “I’m sorry’ and ‘I apologize’ mean the same thing. Unless you’re at a funeral.”

Before GPS, SOS, and CPUs, the stars and land were essential to navigation of sea. There were few things more terrifying to a sailor than a storm causing the ship to drift off course and away from land. If both were lost, especially for an extended time like fourteen days, the situation would be nearly hopeless. How much more terrible is it to drift off course from the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The consequences of drifting from land are temporal, but the consequences of drifting from Christ the Savior are eternal, the misery indescribable. 

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Hebrews 2:1-4
The Primary Theme
The epistle to the Hebrews is shrouded in a measure of mystery. Questions begin even with, who wrote the book?[1] What was the occasion for its being written? When was the book written? We will have to wait for answers to the questions that God has not yet revealed. The theme of the book, however, is anything but mysterious: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”[2] From the opening verse, the absolute supremacy of Christ Jesus as prophet, priest, and king over all things is the beginning, middle, and the end of the whole matter.[3]
The supremacy of Christ is emphasized in His being and His work. In His being, Christ is supreme over all else because of His perfections. Seven perfections of the Son (1:2-3) promote His completeness and the “sevenfold glory of the Mediator.”[4] 1) The Son has been appointed heir of all things; 2) the Son made the world; 3) the Son is the brightness of God’s glory; 4) the Son is the express image of God’s person; 5) the Son upholds all things by the Word of His power; 6) the Son purged our sins; and 7) the Son sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
From His being, the supremacy of the Son extends over all His creatures, the work of His hands. The Son is supreme over the prophets (1:1-2), the angels (1:4-14), Moses (3:3), Joshua (4:8-9), the Old Testament priesthood (7:20-25), the Tabernacle (9:11), and the sacrificial system (9:12). There is nothing in heaven or earth that is over Christ, for He is both Lord and God, the receiver of all worship. His throne alone is “forever and ever” (1:8).
Next to this central theme of the Son’s superiority is the second theme that is like the first – namely, the perfect work of salvation accomplished by the Son. He has “by Himself purged our sins” (1:3). “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). “But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (9:26, 28). “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (10:12). The perfect salvation was accomplished by the perfect Christ for the perfection of the many sons whom He brings to glory (2:10).
The Primary Concern
With the primary themes established, Hebrews 2:1-4 comes from the writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with a concern for his readers that is present throughout the book – “Do not drift away!”. They have heard the gospel of Christ. They have heard something of His being and work. Now they must pay more abundant attention to what they heard. Failure to take heed will lead to drifting away from Christ and the great salvation which He has provided through His blood.
Five times in Hebrews, the writer deals with the danger of falling away from Christ and His salvation.[5] Five times He warns the reader against coming up short. The application of Hebrews is so strong that Richard Phillips refers to the book of Hebrews as a sermon on the theme, “Do not fall away.”[6] The abundant warning against coming up short of eternal life is a direct contrast to the abundant gift which would be lost by doing so—namely salvation through Jesus Christ. You have heard the gospel. You must pay more abundant attention to it, lest you drift away.  
The Urgency of the Matter
Having laid the foundation for the gospel of God in chapter one, several key words are used to draw our earnest attention to the matter at hand and address questions raised by the opening argument. What type of attention must we render to God and the gospel of His Son? The phrase,περισσοτέρως προσέχεινis, is rendered “the more earnest heed” in the NKJV and “must pay much closer attention” in the ESV.[7] The use of the word περισσοτέρως (more earnest) denotes an exceptionally strong attention. Lexicons translate the word, “far more, far greater,”[8] “more abundantly,”[9] and “more superabundantly.”[10] While it is somewhat awkward for English speakers to add “more” to a superlative (i.e. more fastest), the goal of the text is to grab our attention by the weightiness of the matter.[11] Like the double red flags at the beach warning potential swimmers of deadly currents, the sense of the text is that our life depends on the manner of attention we render to the message. The whole beach is filled with red flags! Take that kind of heed!
The following word προσέχειν means “to give close attention to something.”[12] The closeness of the attention is not merely, or even primarily, referring to proximity to the object of attention, but rather to the application of oneself to the object.[13] The Scripture says of Lydia, “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). John Owen described Lydia as attending “with readiness, humility, and resolution to obey the Word.”[14] The Westminster Shorter Catechism highlights the same type of resolute attention to the Word when in answer 90 it says, “That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.”[15] Attention must be given with great diligence, for our life depends upon it.
What happens if we do not pay more superabundant attention?  The final word of 2:1 gives the warning, παραρυῶμεν (lest we drift away). This is the only time the verb is used in the Bible. It is a nautical word meaning “slip away,” “be washed away,” or “drift away.”[16] Whether it is a boat drifting at sea, washed clean by water, or unknowingly departing off course, the aorist active subjunctive form of the verb gives the sense of a present possibility of departure from where one should be. “The metaphor in mind here seems to be that of allowing the current to carry one away from a fixed point through carelessness and unconcern…of failing to maintain a secure anchorage which will keep one from drifting from the gospel”[17] Secure your anchor firmly to Christ, the sure foundation, lest you be carried away by the current to your own peril.  
To what should we give more abundant attention? From what would we drift away? Τηλικοῦτος σωτηρίας(“so great a salvation”). The emphasis of the word τηλικοῦτος (“so great”) is in the degree of importance.[18] Speaking of the salvation of God, Paul uses the word to describe God who “delivered us from so great a death” (2 Cor. 2:10). We are not giving attention to something weak but extremely powerful, namely, σωτηρίας (“salvation”). Here the salvation in mind is that of “Messianic Salvation,” which is to say the free, full, and finished work of God in Christ.[19]  
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