The importance of time management in biblically balanced life

Biblical Balance

I will be discussing the importance of time management and living a biblically balanced life. We are all given the same twenty-four hours in a day to work with and use. I want to take a look at this topic with the help of an article “ The Beauty of Biblical Balance” (Carson, 2012), it has some wonderful insight into this topic and one I share.

The Importance of Balance

In “ The Beauty of Biblical Balance” (Carson, 2012), Carson says “ The Bible exhorts us to discharge many responsibilities, all of them time-consuming: to work, love our neighbor, love our spouse, bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, pray, meditate on God’s Word, meet together with other believers for mutual edification and corporate praise, bear witness to the gospel with unbelievers, and much more.”

We are all constantly striving for balance all the time. For anyone who has a balanced budget they know the peace that can be gained in having balance in one area of their lives. An unbalanced load of laundry causes a lot of noise, and , in some instances can also cause other problems like the washer could stop running altogether until balance is restored. Balance is something that we are always striving for in every area of our lives. We should strive to have balance in every area of our lives by establishing Christ at the center of our lives. Matthew 6: 33 says; “ See the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

A couple of weeks ago at church we had an amazing speaker who spoke on the topic of “ What every Kid Needs” and it was on the importance of time and how we manage it and where are we spending the time that matters the most. He gave a great demonstration, he had this huge jar it was filled with one thousand marbles. He went on to tell us that this represents the time in weeks that we have till our kids turn eighteen and graduate high school. In the light of doing this paper this sermon hit me pretty hard. My son is a junior this year and according to the speaker’s demonstration my marbles are almost gone. It really made me think about what was important and, was I balancing work, school, church, etc. and at the same time teaching my son the things he needs to know to prepare him for after high school.

It made me question myself and ask myself things like: Am I loving him by “ showing up” over time because, love over time equals worth. Am I creating a safe place for him to talk to me because words over time make a difference. Am I making sure I’m telling him stories of “ when that happened to me ” instead of just giving him information because information doesn’t change people stories do. Am I giving him significance by giving him something significant to do because, work over time equals significance. And here’s where it got real for me, am I enjoying spending time with him before all my marbles are gone because fun over time equals connection. Isn’t that what it’s all about; connecting with one another. Not missing what’s important for what can be said no to.

We all need balance. The Bible is clear on this in the following verses: for instance, mental balance; according to the Bible in Romans 12: 2 it says; “ Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” For our physical balance, 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says; “ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in your and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves, for God bough you with a high price.

So, you must honor God with your body.” For our spiritual balance 2 Peter 3: 18 says; “ Rather, you must grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever. Amen!” Emotional balance the Bible says; But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against these things.” Galatians 5: 22-23. Social balance in Romans 12: 16 it says; “ live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t thing you know it all.”

Conclusion

In conclusion setting proper priorities in our life may help. Creating a list and for most Christians that list looks something like 1.) God; 2.) Family; 3.) Church; 4.) Work/ and 5.) Everything else. The problem I feel with this is this type of list is one where we are treating God as just one more thing on our list in which we need to schedule in time for. Instead, God should be the scale and the very standard.