The Heretic's Way

The Balancing Act

Have you ever felt like your life is out of balance? Like you’re walking a tightrope? Maybe you feel like so many things are building up on top of you like email, cell phones, voice mail, snail mail, boss, wife, kids, friends…and at any moment you are going to topple.

Are there areas of your life that you spend way too much time, energy, and money on? While other areas are completely ignored? All too often the things that get ignored are the things that are really important to you but you can’t do them because you always feel like you are putting out fires.

Often it seems like there is an endless amount of demands put on us, by ourselves and others, and we often come up short – feeling exhausted, discouraged and broke. If this doesn’t sound like you, here are 9 rules for you to get your life totally out of balance:

1. Don’t forget that your job comes first!

2. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays are the perfect time to get caught up at the office because no one will be there to bother you.

3. Always bring your work with you wherever you go.

4. Never say “no” to any request. Always say “yes!”

5. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees and etc.

6. All forms of recreation are a WASTE of time!

7. Never delegate responsibility to others, they will never do it as well as you anyway.

8. If you ever have to travel at work, travel at night so you can keep all your appointments during the day.

9. No matter how much you are doing you can always do more!

OK, so maybe that’s not the best advice in the world, yet many of us still live by those rules. In fact, we feel obligated to! We end up asking our self the question:

What will my [FILL-IN-THE-BLANK] think if I don’t do everything they ever ask me to?

The result is that we feel like a dog chasing our tail. Deep inside we crave balance. A balanced diet. Balanced relationships. Balanced exercise. Balanced beliefs.

What do you think would happen if the earth’s rotation got out of balance? It wouldn’t be a happy day, that’s for sure!

No one wants to be out of balance.

There are 5 different areas of our lives that we need to have balance in:

1. Physical

– Diet

– Exercise

– Equilibrium

2. Emotional

– Feelings

– Grudges

– Stress

3. Spiritual

– Faith vs. Actions

– Being in the world but not “of it”

– Offering Grace vs. Being Judgemental

4. Mental

– Thoughts

– Entertainment

5. Social

– Family

– Friends

Each of these areas takes a bit of effort to keep in balance, because a life of balance does not come naturally. Our tendency is to do too much and to take on far more than we should.

In John 10:10 Jesus says that he wants to give us “LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS.” That sounds pretty nice doesn’t it? Most of us crave this life of balance, but it always just seems right out of reach. Deep inside we want to be able to do the things that bring us joy and fulfillment without feeling stress and being overwhelmed.

Asaph was this guy in the Bible that let his life get out of balance. He was the chief musician for God’s temple, the worship leader for all of Israel. He was a skilled musician and spend his days leading the praises in the temple of God. He was a prophet. He even wrote around a dozen Psalms. But he let his life get out of balance.

In Psalm 73:3-8 you can hear him whining about his situation:

[3] For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. [4] They seem to live such a painless life; their bodies are so healthy and strong. [5] They aren’t troubled like other people or plagued with problems like everyone else. [6] They wear pride like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty. [7] These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! [8] They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.

Evidently Asaph had looked at the things that his rich neighbors were getting, and he felt pressured to get the same things, but couldn’t. He became materialistic. He put the riches and material things above his purpose in life.

He was letting others decide what success was for him. Success is much more than making money and having things…it is having your life in balance.

1. Find Your Purpose

The first thing you need to do to get your life in balance is to figure out what your purpose is. What is your purpose? Do you have purpose? Have you ever even thought about it?

Your primary purpose in life is not to have a great career, be happy, wealthy, or wise. It is not to be the best in your line of work. It is not even to find a hot spouse and have a family.

All of these things are not bad, and God’s plan for you may include some of those things, but that is not the reason that you were created. The main reason we were made was to know God and to glorify Him.

In the beginning of Romans 14:8 it says that “While we live, we live to please the Lord.” Are you living your life to please the Lord? Or are you living it to please yourself or those around you?

Although we are all called to please God you still may have questions about what that would look like in YOUR life. This requires some digging and probing into our soul. What do you enjoy? What brings pleasure in your life? What makes you feel fulfilled?

2. Set Priorities

The next thing that we need to do is to set priorities that line up with our purpose.

Who says that owning a home should be a priority for you? Who says that you have to drive a new car? Who says that you need to spend time watching the news? Who says you have to make tons of money? Who says you have to stay in job you don’t love? WHO SAYS?

Our life is like a giant seesaw and when we load it up it starts getting out of balance. Then other people try to pile more things on it and the balance shifts the other way. And back and forth it goes until we reach the breaking point. It is time to unload the seesaw.

“Much or our activity these days is nothing more than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the pain of an empty life.”

In Matthew 22:27-29 we see that at the top of our list of priorities should be loving and serving God and loving and serving others. You will find that if you get connected to God, and you get connected to like-minded people who care about you your life will begin to naturally balance out.

What are the things that are most important to you? What areas of service interest you. Move those things to the top of the list, and put your efforts there. Do the things that bring you the most fulfillment! Setting priorities will help you to greatly trim things down.

 3. Make a Plan

The third thing you need to do is to make a plan…and WRITE it down! You can discover your purpose, set priorities for your life but if you don’t make a plan it will never happen. How are you going to get there? How are you going to bring the balance in your life?

It is important to realize that you will probably have to stop doing a lot of things in your life so that you can carry out the things that really make you feel fulfilled and balanced. And that’s okay. It’s time we learned how to say “no” to the things that throw our life out of balance.

5. Take Action

Obviously all the talk and plans in the world don’t mean a thing if you won’t actually take action on it. That’s all I have to say about that 😉

4. The Most Important Thing

Fortunately Asaph didn’t stay off-balance forever. In Psalms 73:21-26 we see that he started to pull out of the despair and unbalanced life that he was wallowing in. He says in verse 24, “You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” He was guided through God’s counsel which comes to us through his Word, the Bible.

God ‘s Word is what stabilizes us and brings balance to our lives. Many of you remember Nik Wallenda’s epic tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon. Nik amazingly crossed the 1,400 foot divide while he was experiencing high crosswinds as well as updrafts. As he walked on the two-inch cable he was carrying a thirty-foot long pole that weighed around 43 pounds. Why? Was he just bored and wanted an extra challenge? No! He used that pole to help to balance during the high winds that was trying to blow him to his death below.

In the same way the pole was used to help Nik maintain his balance, God’s Word helps us to keep in balance through the winds we face in our life.

In Isaiah 26:3 it says that God will keep us in perfect peace when our thoughts are fixed on him. If you aren’t experience God’s peace–if your life feels out of balance–maybe it is because out thoughts and actions are not fixed on Christ.

Jesus is the one that keeps us balance through the storms in our lives, he is the one that give us true meaning and purpose.