465. The Principle of "Roughly-Thoroughly" (Pastor Kwack)
This is translated from Pastor Kwack's pastor blog
During my time as an intern-pastor, I spent about ten years making and installing signs. What I learned during that time was the principle of "Roughly-Thoroughly" (대강철저). When you work, there are things that can be done roughly and things that must be done thoroughly. If you do thoroughly what only needs to be done roughly, you waste time and money. Conversely, if you do roughly what should be done thoroughly, it may seem like you're saving time and money at first, but when problems arise later, you end up wasting even more.
The principle of "Roughly-Thoroughly" applies in many areas of our daily lives. Whether raising children, managing a household, navigating the workplace, or building relationships, the key is to distinguish well between what can be done roughly and what must be done thoroughly.
This principle seems to apply to our life of faith as well. I was taught that the most important thing in the life of faith is relationships — loving God and loving our neighbors. If we neglect the most important relationships in our faith while pouring our energy into everything else, we need the resolve and practice to reorder our priorities.
The purpose of the church's existence is to save souls and make disciples. When you think only about the purpose, the direction the church should go seems simple, but the reality of ministry is not simple at all. Amid diverse people and rapidly changing circumstances, it is easy for urgent matters to take priority over what is truly important.
If our time and resources were unlimited, there would be no need to wrestle with "Roughly-Thoroughly." We could do as much as we want, care about as much as we want, and invest as much as we want. But reality is the opposite. Time is always short, energy is easily depleted, and resources are always limited. Because of this, it is easy to think that spending more time produces better results and that doing more work means being more faithful. However, the moment we try to do everything well and hold onto everything within our limited time and resources, there is a great chance we end up doing nothing properly.
"Roughly-Thoroughly" seems to be less a method for overcoming our limitations and more a wisdom for using them rightly. The principle of "Roughly-Thoroughly" — focusing on what is valuable within limited time and building meaningful relationships with limited energy — seems to be the path to wisely living out the life that God has given us.
