Sometimes I wish I could be like Joshua and lengthen my days at will. For sure, there are days that include more items on my to-do list than can be done in 24 hours.
Last week I asked for some advice from a couple of men in our church. One of them, Matt Taylor, has been a guest on the podcast before. I asked him and another godly man for suggestions for podcast topics. The results were not disappointing. One of the topics Matt mentioned was about living a balanced life. Specifically, he proposed that we talk about “A biblical work life balance for men and women.” I thought, "That would be a good topic for me to think about, talk through, and hopefully improve on (in my own habits and routines).
Hopefully, for some of our listeners, this will also be a blessing. I think that trying to give the proper amount of time, energy, effort, focus, and investment to our work responsibilities in proportion with other parts of life is a relevant and important topic for discussion.
Let's think of life as a pie chart or like a big pizza. How big is each slice? How big should each slice be? And you can think of these as slices of time or of each slice as a different priority in life. We have to rest, we have to eat, we have to spend some time on basic hygiene for our own body, we should spend time in strictly spiritual pursuits (such as Bible study, prayer, evangelism, worship, fellowship), we have responsibilities in relation to our family, our friends, our civil duties as citizens, & our health.
Then for affluent societies, there are usually slices that could be labeled hobbies and leisure. There are also slices that need to go because it’s either a straightforward vice (some sin) or at least it a distraction of some sort that takes away from the purpose and productivity of our lives.
So let’s think of life in terms of time (although that’s not the only way to look at it). We are told in the Bible to “Redeem the time, because the days are evil.” How much rest is appropriate? How much time eating? How much time working to “make a living” to take care of myself, my financial obligations, and my family? How much time with my wife or husband? How much time doing necessary tasks like grocery shopping, planning, paying bills, cleaning house, and repairing broken things? How much time in time alone with God, etc? If we are generous and give 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for work, how should the other 8 hours be spent? How much work is too much? It would seem that 16 hours a day “at work” is likely an imbalanced ratio. Some days do demand that kind of stamina, or maybe even more, but it’s not sustainable, and even if it is, it’s not likely to be healthy or holy.
Then we have to ask questions like, what if you can’t leave work at work? What if you “can’t afford” to work less? What if your “work” is ministry, does that change things? Are there hybrid models where (for example) if you work with your wife and children in a family business, that significantly changes the dynamic of how much time can be wisely spent in your “occupation?” How about scheduling margin into our lives in anticipation of mishaps and surprises?
How about the “work 6 days” commandment and principle? Is it ok to sacrifice some slices temporarily in the name of fulfilling my obligations “at work” - (sort of the "ox-in-a-ditch" exception)? What about evaluating our standard of living and learning to “live within our means” instead of striving perpetually to make more, earn more, have more, do more, be more, achieve more, & leave more?
Listen as Dave & Patrick take an honest stab at this important issue.
