We have called this the Information Age, but I would give it a different name.
I would call it the Age of Efficiency. We want every process streamlined – we want it efficient. The doctor’s office doesn’t want you checking in with the receptionist and filling out papers at the office, that is a waste of time.
Through the miracle of technology, now every time I want to go to see a doctor I need to fill out countless questions online. So when I see my doctor twice in one week, I need to fill out the same questions twice.
They have efficiently eliminated all the time wasting human interaction of the past. The future of the world, our society, and technology all look headed toward increased efficiency.
We are in a time when we don’t prize human interaction. We stare at screens, small and large, when we are right next to people. We don’t prize service, love, tenderness or sacrifice. We are a culture that has set our sights on the goal of Absolute Efficiency.
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and for the world remains and is immortal.
My Commentary:
Efficiency is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. It saves time, reduces friction, and makes complex systems workable. But when efficiency becomes the highest good, something quietly human is lost along the way.
We can see it in small, familiar places. A doctor’s visit once began with eye contact, a greeting, perhaps even a bit of small talk that reminded us we were known. Now it often begins alone, staring at a screen, repeating the same answers, checking boxes that cannot hear tone or feel concern. Time has been saved, yes — but at the cost of presence.
The deeper problem is not technology itself, but what we have chosen to value. We have streamlined away patience. We have optimized out attentiveness. We have mistaken speed for progress and convenience for care. In our rush to be efficient, we often forget to be kind.
Human interaction is inefficient by nature. Listening takes time. Love interrupts schedules. Service cannot be automated. Tenderness resists measurement. Sacrifice rarely fits neatly into a workflow. And yet these are the very things that give life meaning.
A culture aimed at Absolute Efficiency will inevitably struggle to recognize what is sacred, because the sacred almost always slows us down. God’s work in the world has never been efficient by human standards. It involves waiting, walking alongside, lingering, and loving people one by one.
In the end, the measure of a life is not how much we accomplished, but how deeply we gave ourselves away. What we do for ourselves alone fades quickly. What we do for others — done in love — outlives us. That is the inefficiency that makes us human, and the gift that makes us immortal.
Have YOU streamlined away patience in YOUR life? Have YOU forgotten how to be kind?
THIS WORLD OFFERS YOU A LOT OF EMPTINESS. GOD OFFERS YOU A LOT OF PURPOSE.
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