30 Bible Verses on Productivity

Many of us have thought about productivity in our workplaces, classrooms, and chore charts, but the Bible is also a surprising source for wisdom on productivity. Scripture teaches that all of our time is a gift from God, and we are to use it in a way that glorifies Him. God gives us the gifts and resources we need to work for His kingdom, and the Bible exhorts us to be productive with those gifts. Let’s explore what the Bible has to say about productivity and its role in the life of faith.

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Old Testament

Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Proverbs 6:6–8
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your work to the LORD,
and your plans will be established.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–13
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

New Testament

John 6:27
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

John 9:1–4
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Ephesians 5:15–16
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Colossians 3:23–24
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 4:5
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

1 Timothy 6:17–19
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Titus 3:14
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

James 4:13–17
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.