The Answer to the Performance Trap
The Answer to the Performance Trap
The Answer to the Performance Trap
The Answer to the Performance Trap
The performance trap leads to the horizontal comparison trap. The horizontal comparison trap sucks the joy from your work and can lead to death. These traps are not new - they have plagued people like us since right after the world began.
Warning: This article is so long it requires a disclosure. There is no need to read it, if you don’t struggle with the performance treadmill in life or work. It is not for the casual reader, we give this to you because we think it is helpful for those struggling with the need to perform to get more from life and work.
Are you striving to become more independent? Do you think you can independently solve your biggest problems or reach a higher status on your own?
Do you relish working with others and helping other people do well, or do you more often relish doing better than others?
"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about.” ― Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness
The performance trap leads to the horizontal comparison trap. The horizontal comparison trap sucks the joy from your work and can lead to death. These traps are not new ― they have plagued people like us since right after the world began.
The First Workers
We see the problem with individual performance and horizontal comparison in the first few pages of the Bible. Here is the story of the first workers from Genesis Chapter 4:
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering — fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don't know,” he replied. “Am I my brother's keeper?” - [.no-reftag]Genesis 4:2-9[.no-reftag]
In this narrative we see work, which was designed for good, become co-opted for selfish gain and personal glory. Work was established by God. Cain and Abel were given unique roles to rule and care for the earth and all its inhabitants. (Genesis 1:26-28 & 2:15)
Abel makes his daily work synonymous with worshiping the God who created him and gave him work to do — revealing how we can work and honor God simultaneously. God recognizes Abel favorably for his work.
The Path to Destruction at Work
Cain instead chooses a path of destruction — revealing the danger of separating our life and work from God:
- First, Cain separates his work from worship by refusing to honor God with the best of what he had been given. Separating work from our highest purpose leads to futility.
- Next, Cain compares his work and the results to those of his brother and becomes jealous and angry. Horizontal comparisons lead to a lack of joy and purpose.
- After that, God communicates directly with Cain and gives him a warning and a path back to joy and purpose. Ignoring God’s word leads to death.
Cain chooses to ignore God’s perfect direction and instead decides to take matters into his own hands — choosing to murder his brother.
All of Cain’s actions are a worthless attempt to gain self significance independently. Cain ignores the love and wisdom of God and does not care to work with his brother. Cain caps off this lesson on the path to destruction by questioning if it is even his job to look out for his brother —- rejecting the design for his life which is to glorify God by ruling the earth and seeking the good of others.
From this we learn much about how we were designed to live and work. However, we will never fully understand how to work if we don’t know the source of our life and His design and purpose for us.
The Answer to Life
The path to a joy-filled life that lasts forever is not about our individual performance. We can never have a life of joy without becoming fully dependent on Jesus.
Randy Pope’s book The Answer provides an incredibly clear description of our problems and the Answer Jesus provides. He explains that there are two ways to relate to God:
“There are only two ways to attempt to relate to God. Every religion falls into one of these two approaches. The first is best captured by the word ‘performance.’ We call this religion “DO.” It is based on earning God’s favor or affection by what we do or don’t do for Him.”
This approach, which summarizes most of the world's religions — including the way we approach our earthly idols — is a self-righteous / self-reliance trap that ultimately leads to death.
Randy Pope provides this incredibly helpful diagram to illustrate the difference in how we tend to relate to God by “doing” works, versus how He intends to relate to us by the works of His Son Jesus, which are “done” for us to have life.
Randy Pope makes it that the path to life starts with God instead of our own performance. The graph explains the purpose of the life of Jesus and how we can accept what He has “done”:
The Answer to Work
Many of us who trust and depend on Jesus understand that we cannot earn the love of grace and Jesus — they are free gifts from God. Yet somehow, we can forget that our work is also a gift from God.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - [.no-reftag]Ephesians 2:10[.no-reftag]
When we forget the very source of our life and work, we can end up working for ourselves — for our own needs, relying on our own strength, in order to satisfy ourselves:
This is the same performance trap that puts us in a downward spiral in life. When we work this way, we have forgotten our design and purpose and instead take matters into our own hands — doing what is right as we see fit (Judges 21:25).
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The best way out of the independent performance trap and the horizontal comparison trap at work is to:
Resources:
Book: The Answer | Randy Pope
*Editor's note — this an excellent resource for understanding the gospel and for sharing with your friends and coworkers
Article: A Good Job for Life | Howard Graham
Article: 7 Competencies for Great Work | Howard Graham
Article: Strategy is Clever-Clever Planning on Purpose | Howard Graham
Sermon: Cain and Abel |Tim Keller
Warning: This article is so long it requires a disclosure. There is no need to read it, if you don’t struggle with the performance treadmill in life or work. It is not for the casual reader, we give this to you because we think it is helpful for those struggling with the need to perform to get more from life and work.
Are you striving to become more independent? Do you think you can independently solve your biggest problems or reach a higher status on your own?
Do you relish working with others and helping other people do well, or do you more often relish doing better than others?
"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about.” ― Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness
The performance trap leads to the horizontal comparison trap. The horizontal comparison trap sucks the joy from your work and can lead to death. These traps are not new ― they have plagued people like us since right after the world began.
The First Workers
We see the problem with individual performance and horizontal comparison in the first few pages of the Bible. Here is the story of the first workers from Genesis Chapter 4:
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering — fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don't know,” he replied. “Am I my brother's keeper?” - [.no-reftag]Genesis 4:2-9[.no-reftag]
In this narrative we see work, which was designed for good, become co-opted for selfish gain and personal glory. Work was established by God. Cain and Abel were given unique roles to rule and care for the earth and all its inhabitants. (Genesis 1:26-28 & 2:15)
Abel makes his daily work synonymous with worshiping the God who created him and gave him work to do — revealing how we can work and honor God simultaneously. God recognizes Abel favorably for his work.
The Path to Destruction at Work
Cain instead chooses a path of destruction — revealing the danger of separating our life and work from God:
- First, Cain separates his work from worship by refusing to honor God with the best of what he had been given. Separating work from our highest purpose leads to futility.
- Next, Cain compares his work and the results to those of his brother and becomes jealous and angry. Horizontal comparisons lead to a lack of joy and purpose.
- After that, God communicates directly with Cain and gives him a warning and a path back to joy and purpose. Ignoring God’s word leads to death.
Cain chooses to ignore God’s perfect direction and instead decides to take matters into his own hands — choosing to murder his brother.
All of Cain’s actions are a worthless attempt to gain self significance independently. Cain ignores the love and wisdom of God and does not care to work with his brother. Cain caps off this lesson on the path to destruction by questioning if it is even his job to look out for his brother —- rejecting the design for his life which is to glorify God by ruling the earth and seeking the good of others.
From this we learn much about how we were designed to live and work. However, we will never fully understand how to work if we don’t know the source of our life and His design and purpose for us.
The Answer to Life
The path to a joy-filled life that lasts forever is not about our individual performance. We can never have a life of joy without becoming fully dependent on Jesus.
Randy Pope’s book The Answer provides an incredibly clear description of our problems and the Answer Jesus provides. He explains that there are two ways to relate to God:
“There are only two ways to attempt to relate to God. Every religion falls into one of these two approaches. The first is best captured by the word ‘performance.’ We call this religion “DO.” It is based on earning God’s favor or affection by what we do or don’t do for Him.”
This approach, which summarizes most of the world's religions — including the way we approach our earthly idols — is a self-righteous / self-reliance trap that ultimately leads to death.
Randy Pope provides this incredibly helpful diagram to illustrate the difference in how we tend to relate to God by “doing” works, versus how He intends to relate to us by the works of His Son Jesus, which are “done” for us to have life.
Randy Pope makes it that the path to life starts with God instead of our own performance. The graph explains the purpose of the life of Jesus and how we can accept what He has “done”:
The Answer to Work
Many of us who trust and depend on Jesus understand that we cannot earn the love of grace and Jesus — they are free gifts from God. Yet somehow, we can forget that our work is also a gift from God.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - [.no-reftag]Ephesians 2:10[.no-reftag]
When we forget the very source of our life and work, we can end up working for ourselves — for our own needs, relying on our own strength, in order to satisfy ourselves:
This is the same performance trap that puts us in a downward spiral in life. When we work this way, we have forgotten our design and purpose and instead take matters into our own hands — doing what is right as we see fit (Judges 21:25).
The best way out of the independent performance trap and the horizontal comparison trap at work is to:
Resources:
Book: The Answer | Randy Pope
*Editor's note — this an excellent resource for understanding the gospel and for sharing with your friends and coworkers
Article: A Good Job for Life | Howard Graham
Article: 7 Competencies for Great Work | Howard Graham
Article: Strategy is Clever-Clever Planning on Purpose | Howard Graham
Sermon: Cain and Abel |Tim Keller