Faith in my academic context

Hebrews 11:1, 6, 16 NIV
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ... And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. ...  Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith, Abraham left his family and culture.  By faith, one person after another chose to obey God and reject the social status quo.

In the academic context, it is my observation that the tenure-track culture expects 65-75 hours per week.  I have recently been reflecting on the underlying motivation for such a large fraction of professors to work so insessantly. (And most, I have found, are fully aware   I assume that some are driven directly by the desire for prestige, while others cloak that desire behind a false pretense of gaining more opportunities to "help people".

It seems to me that the main function of professors is mentorship through an integration of teaching, research, and service.  Certainly, more can be accomplished by working more hours, and certainly there should be a minimum number of hours committed per week for effectiveness, but I am beginning to question why I am so captivated by this perverse, workaholic culture.

"Don't envy the rat for the cheese in his trap." - Lecrae

I think, instead of faith, it comes down to my own efforts to establish my own value.  If my value is not determined by any or all of the quantitative metrics for research productivity, then what is my value?  Well, God established my value in the death of Jesus.  But the world rejects that priceless worth and replaces it with something proportional to labor or productivity so that it effectively makes us like Matrix energy generators, and the objective of the world is to maximize the extraction of energy from us.

Drawing from the perspective of The Gospel Coalition, Academia must be redeemed, including the professorship.

Practically, then, I must learn to strategically limit my commitments to what sums to less than what I am used to.  I have to decrease my obligations.  By faith, I must trust that my value is not determined by what I produce, but by Christ.  By faith, I must follow Christ in building His Kingdom, not mine.  I am beginning to see that a very important part of my participation in building that Kingdom is making disciples of my own family, and I need to strategically limit my work time so that I can invest sufficiently in time with my family.

Heavenly Father, thank you for these examples of faith.  Lord Jesus, thank you for proving my worth.  Holy Spirit, may I keep in step with you and walk in obedience as we honor Christ.  I love you, and I pray in the name of Jesus.