The Culture of Performance & Resisting Identity in Overproduction
Rest: Another Great Exchange (Part 2)
The Identity Crisis
One evident aspect of modern culture is that we live in a world that equates identity with productivity. Identity chains of performance pursuits shackle Western culture. As ministers walking worthy of the call, I urge awareness that performance cultures are integrated in the local church and corporate environments, where output, competence, and visible results measure our leadership worth.
I don’t take offense at the climate because I understand both immensely. One world is at the mercy of the client (Corporate), while the other is at the mercy of the congregant (Local Church). What is a business without clients? What is a church without congregants? How do you keep both?
As someone who has lived on both sides as a hybrid of that divide—corporate and ministry—I know the inner pull of success and the outer demands of high-capacity leadership. By nature, I am high-functioning, multi-gifted, high-driving, and hard-stopping. My self-awareness is not a flex or boast. While it might be more of a blessing to others, it’s a burden to me. However, it is how God has wired me, but I lived in the middle of these worlds for years, delaying my ability to find divine rest or soul care.
Scripture doesn't call us to abandon skill or capacity; it calls us to place them at Jesus' feet for Him to redeem them into the proper identity and pace of purpose. If we are to walk worthy of the call, let us realize that rest doesn’t begin when the calendar clears but when the heart surrenders in His presence.
I need you to know that “Rest” is the declaration that Christ is enough in a world that demands more.
Overengineering
More often than not, I have to preach to myself: Stop Overengineering. I am a recovering life planner and driver. My life and background are reasons why, but that is another article. Overengineering prevents us from resting because we’ve attached our identity to inner ambition. Only in ministry can you hide your secret to be number one. This is why you must interrogate your desires through deep fellowship in Christ.
Consider this question deeply for a moment: “If I stop striving, who am I?” This is not merely a psychological issue. It’s theological. That statement is mainly for those who understand the necessity of a robust faith life, but it is still one to ponder if you are reading this without a proclaimed faith in Jesus Christ. The answer lies in whether you believe the Creator of all things created you, or that you are the creator of all things. However, the point here is stillness or a hands-off approach.
Here is a reality: Unchecked desires or ambitions will drive us to overengineer our schedules, family, work, and worth. You might not want to hear this, but it is idolatry of the self. It’s hard to stop when you are “Winning.”
I’ll speak for myself. It was time to confront this reality. I did not need the Lord to work on me; I went to His feet as a beggar asking Him to heal me. When I talk about divine rest, it’s not the absence of activity; it’s the presence of submission. It's the refusal to build identity on anything but Christ.
As Augustine of Hippo, a theologian and philosopher in the 4th and early 5th centuries, rightly said:
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”- Confessions, Book I
Deconstructing Secular Business Mindsets
If you are reading this, you probably think I am against creating a life worth living. Rest assured: I am not. Pursue a full life. This journal is focused on helping you walk worthy of God's calling on your life. I am thankful that God renewed my thinking. So, let’s start with a business-renewing mindset. All business is an opportunity to glorify God. #Thatpart
In Business for the Glory of God, Wayne Grudem affirms that business and productivity are not just necessary—they are morally good, when rightly stewarded:
“Ownership, productivity, employment, and profit—all are fundamentally good and provide many opportunities for glorifying God.”- Wayne Grudem
Grudem taught me that there is no separation between ministry and marketplace. They are both sacred, good things created by God for us to pursue and lift to our creator. Not subscribing to a view that the marketplace is neutral, but seeing it as a divinely given realm for love of neighbor, stewardship, and creativity, will alter how you see the business world. But Grudem does insert a caveat that is just as vital:
“if these good things become ultimate, they distort our calling and damage our souls.- Wayne Grudem
Your true rest is determined by how well you are re-centered to a Christ-centered ambition while establishing your business around serving, not striving. Remember that work is stewardship, not self-justification.
How to Resist in a Culture of Overproduction
This topic reminds me of Daniel’s story in the Bible. He was in exile, and his story speaks directly to those working under high pressure and performance expectations. Babylon was a place of results, image, and institutional power. Does this remind you of another place? Yet Daniel, a high-performing leader, resisted the idolatry of ambition. Here are some reference points to study more in your quiet times.
1. Daniel Refused Cultural Identity Desires (Daniel 1:8)
I love Daniel because he was young and had a spiritual standard. He had a conviction about the God he served. His refusal to defile himself with the king’s food was more than dietary; it was spiritual. He understood the slow, seductive power of being fed by a system that wanted to rename and reshape him. He stood on spiritual business: God defines my provision and my worth.
2. Daniel Chose Presence Over Productivity (Daniel 6:10)
Despite the high pressure and real danger, Daniel kept sacred intentional rhythms of prayer. Prayer was his secret weapon. He did not try to fit God into Babylon’s schedule; he had to fit Babylon around God’s presence. #Bars. In a performance culture, you must know that rest is a declaration of allegiance.
3. Daniel Waited for God’s Word (Daniel 9–10)
Daniel didn’t engineer/overengineer a strategy in crisis like many. He fasted, lamented, and waited. See, his life skill of getting to the feet of God yielded room for God to speak rather than rushing to solve his problems.
So, don’t stress out or reject your talents. Take them to Jesus.
His invitation in Matthew 11:28–30 is not to do less but to do justly. When He says, “Take my yoke, and I will give you rest,” He recalibrates our labor efforts toward relational trust. That does not mean we are unyoked from responsibility, but are yoked with Him.
Therefore, our talents are not to be abandoned, but renewed. When we do, here is what will happen: Our innovation becomes a service. Our leadership becomes worship. Our efficiency becomes mercy.
Ministers do the Work First
This orientation is essential for those called to ministry. A minister cannot lead people out of restlessness if they have not first submitted their identity. Paul’s command to walk worthy of the calling (Eph. 4:1) includes a call to lay down ambition disguised as calling.
If our ministries or platforms are built on the same performance ethos as the world’s systems, they may succeed outwardly but fail spiritually. We will no longer carry a Shepherd’s Heart, but will continue with a Manager’s Heart. The intrinsic fruit of the Spirit will not grow from an unrested root.
A pure heart is the first platform of fruitful ministry.
Before we preach to others about rest, we must enter it ourselves. Before we bear fruit in the lives of others, we must allow our hearts to be pruned of restlessness, entitlement, and overidentification with our ministry roles.
Practices of Redemptive Rest
Watch your desires. What do you most fear losing? What are you trying to prove? Let those questions lead to surrender.
Reclaim your rhythms. Like Daniel, stand on business. Create sacred spaces of prayer, Scripture, and silence that resist the speed of culture.
Submit your talents. Lay your capacities before the Lord, not as trophies, but as tools for kingdom work. He is not surprised by your gifts because He gave them to you. Let Him redefine their purpose.
Rest as worship. Practice rest not as an escape, but as an act of allegiance. Let your resting declare: “God, You are enough.”
Rest is Identity Reclaimed, Not Activity Removed
Rest is not the absence of work; it is the absence of striving to be someone you're already declared to be in Christ. Say this:
“I am not what I do. I am who God says I am.”
Let the gospel renew your talents. Let your ambitions be filtered by grace. And let your leadership be grounded in the presence of the One who has already finished the most important work.
“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” - Hebrews 4:9
Recommended Resources
Wayne Grudem, Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Businesshttps://www.crossway.org/books/business-for-the-glory-of-god-tpb/
Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Workhttps://www.amazon.com/Every-Good-Endeavor-Connecting-Work/dp/0525952702
Hugh Whelchel, How Then Should We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Workhttps://tifwe.org/resources/how-then-should-we-work/
John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurryhttps://www.amazon.com/Ruthless-Elimination-Hurry-John-Comer/dp/0525653090