9 Ways To Achieve Work-Life Balance Like Jesus

I try to achieve a work-life balance by being equally overwhelmed at home and work.

- Adam Burns, Man With A Plan

For many of us, achieving a balance between our personal and professional lives can seem like a cruel joke.  

In my ministry, I work with healthcare students and professionals.  No matter how hard they try, it's an endless struggle to keep their training and work in place.

But the fight for work-life balance doesn't stop with those who get paid for our work.  Stay-at-home parents, for example, have one of the toughest jobs on the planet and often feel like they've lost touch with the rest of their lives.

I'm not going to tell you there's a silver bullet or tell you there are 'three easy steps to work-life balance.'  That ended when Adam and Eve took the forbidden fruit, and life under the sun descended into chaos (see Genesis 3).

At the same time, the despair we often feel around this area of balance and margin is not from God. It's a trick of the enemy, who wants us to think that our lives aren't under God's control and that there's no hope.  

While perfect work-life balance isn't possible in this life, and many things are outside our control, God is with us.  Let's look at Jesus's life and consider how we can head toward more sanity and balance for our own.

What Work-Life Balance Doesn't Mean

Before we look at ways we can recapture balance in our lives, let's get one thing clear.  I'm not saying Christians shouldn't work hard.  Or that God promises that life will feel balanced all the time. 

The Bible never promises that.    

Jesus had days that weren’t ‘balanced.’  See Mark 1, for example, where Jesus gives the morning sermon (21), casts out an unclean spirit (25-26), heals Peter’s mother-in-law (31), and then - as night falls - heals everyone in town who was sick or demon-possessed (32-34).

As he looked toward retirement, a seminary professor was looking forward to slowing down.  Instead, God called him unexpectedly to the missions field, and he wound up working 70-hour weeks. 

My wife and I have good friends who have a special needs son. He is medically-involved and requires someone to be with him whenever he's awake. For them, being faithful means that someone is 'on' with him all the time and that they are often very tired.

So, we can't demand something God never promises.  His 'best life' for us might be a hard, exhausting one.

At the same time, alongside the exhaustion and hard work, the bible offers us deep rest.  Like a weekly Sabbath (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), the freedom of forgiveness from our sins, and the direct access we have to our Father through Christ (see Hebrews 4:1-16).

I've added short application questions throughout the post to help you apply them to your life.

9 Ways To Achieve Work-Life Balance Like Jesus

#1 Have some fun 

For his first miracle, Jesus turned water into wine - really good wine - at a wedding that probably lasted a week.  He was literally the life of the party.  

Some of us, myself included, really struggle with slowing down. There's always more to do, and if we're fully honest, we sometimes act as though life depends on us, not God. We also like it when others recognize how 'crazy busy' we are because it must mean, we reason, we're important and disciplined. 

Application: Do you need to be more intentional about making room for fun, hobbies, or leisure?  In John 2, Jesus gives you clear permission.

#2 View your life as a whole (don’t compartmentalize it)

Jesus never ‘went to work,’ so he never set it aside, either.  For example, in John 2, was Jesus working or partying? (Answer: Yes.)

Weddings were huge celebrations in Jesus's day, and there’s no doubt he had a good time. On the other hand, his disciples were there, too (as usual), so we can assume he was pouring into them.

That takes thought, effort, and intentionality... which is tiring - even for the Son of God. (See the story of his interaction with the woman at the well in John 4.)

When he turned the water into wine, it ‘manifested (revealed) his glory. And his disciples believed in him.’  At least in this case, there was no distinction between Jesus having fun and his work of discipling his closest followers. He could enjoy life and be intentional all at the same time. 

Reading the gospels, you never get the sense that Jesus thought of his life in distinct buckets or silos. Instead, whatever he did was only - and always - in response to what his Father showed him (John 5:19; 8:29).

Application: How would following Jesus’ example of simply doing the Father’s work change how you feel about the different 'buckets' in your life?  Also, here's a 9-day bible reading devotional from YouVersion on the topic of work-life balance.

#3 Be intentional

Just because Jesus didn’t carve up his life into ‘work’ and ‘non-work’ doesn’t mean he never took a breather.  Right after this crazy day of overwork, Jesus recalibrates in Mark 1:35-39.

It doesn’t just happen, though.  Jesus gets up early while it’s still dark and everyone else is still catching some z’s (Mark 1:35). Presumably, there was a bit of sacrifice to that. He didn't just go chill and relax in a cabana with a pina colada, you know? (Which would have been fine.) He spent some time in prayer, which requires real effort even as it brings life.

Application: Where do you need to become more proactive and intentional about injecting margin to pursue a more balanced life? Are you willing to make some sacrifices to achieve it?

#4 Get away

Jesus goes to a ‘desolate place’.  He’s alone (35) where there’s no wifi or mobile service.  No one can find him there.

Application: Are there times when you make yourself truly inaccessible?  How can you build this into your day, week, or month?  (Putting it on your calendar and setting a notification/reminder will help you follow through.)

#5 Talk with God (pray)

Mark simply states that ‘there he prayed’ (35).  Making prayer a priority was one of Jesus' secrets for maintaining perspective, margin, and balance.

Application: Has your prayer life become boring and routine in the midst of a frenetic life?  Carve out an extended time to have an honest conversation with the Father, and expect to receive the help you need for a new beginning.

#6 Let others come to you

Jesus is the only truly indispensable person who ever lived.  His teaching, grace, and ability to heal put him in constant demand.  And yet, he was fine with letting Peter and ‘everyone’ expend some real effort to track him down.  In love and in the right situations, it’s fine to make ourselves hard to find. If people really need you, they’ll track you down like Peter did here.

Application: How and when can you make yourself harder to find?

#7 Leave things undone

When they finally caught up with Jesus, he said, ‘ 'Everyone is looking for you.'  And [Jesus] said to them, 'Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out (38).' ’

It’s implied that everyone was searching for Jesus because they had other needs they hoped he’d meet.

So what does he do?  He flashes a peace sign, jumps on the next train, and leaves town, allowing those needs to remain.  This wasn’t cruel or uncaring because he had a clear sense of his calling to preach to other towns.  This bigger ‘yes’ allowed him to say ‘no’ to good but lesser things.

Applications:

• Ask yourself honestly if you may be overworking.  Ask others who are close to you, too.
• Make a quick list of things that overwhelm you and could be left undone.  Pick one, and stop doing it today.  Choose two more, and stop doing them within two weeks.  Talk to others if your choices will impact them.

#8 Don't look to work to do what only Jesus can do

Okay, this one doesn't quite fit with the others because you won't find it in Mark 1. But it's foundational and worth mentioning.

In his 'Wednesday Word', Paul Tripp puts it like this:

'Your work is your calling, but it is not your life. Work gives you dignity, but it is not your hope. You are created to work diligently, but work is not the ultimate reward.

Your work is not the final word on who you are, and it surely should not define what your life is all about.

Paralyzing disappointment and consuming addiction are the results of an improper work balance. Imbalance happens when we look to our work for that deep and abiding peace and rest that every human being seeks...

In a world that idolizes power, position, fame, and material wealth, we continually need to clarify and reorient our sense of what is important. The things of this earth are meant to point to Jesus, not become the things that replace Jesus.

Jesus warned, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions … the one who lays up treasure for himself is not rich toward God.' ' (Luke 12:15, 21)

In other words, if we are to keep work in its proper place and leave margin for other things that matter, we must remember that only Jesus can give us life in the ultimate sense. Holding onto that foundational truth will allow us to put our doing down and embrace the full-orbed life Christ has set before us.

#9 Bonus: Jesus, Work-Life Balance & Your Marriage

This site is all about helping Christians get ready for and enjoy healthy marriages, so I want to make the connection between work-life balance and our relationships. 

In many ways, the connection is obvious: when we work too much, our most important relationships suffer. But in other ways, the disconnection that spending so much time on work - even very good work - produces sneaks up on couples. 

Jasmine, for example, was a highly-trained surgeon who was married to Brahian, also a surgeon. They were both dedicated followers of Jesus, but over time I sensed a disconnect between them. Jasmine, in particular, spent a lot of time at work and, on several occasions, voluntarily chose to work 21 days in a row. I was not surprised when I learned she had filed for divorce. 

Obviously, situations like these are complicated and rarely one person's fault. But clearly, not devoting enough time to our marriage does not align with God's purposes and can play a significant role in a seriously compromised home life.

Your Turn

The key to finding more work-life balance (and most things) is not getting everything right.  The perfect balance between work life and the rest of life simply doesn't exist. It will always be a balancing act, but taking small, concrete steps adds up over time, leaving us enough time and energy for the most important things - and people - in our lives.  So... 

1. Which one idea will you put into practice?  Pick a first step today, and choose a time in the next 3 days you’ll start trying it out.
2. Bonus: put a reminder on your calendar or phone so you don't forget.  

A Prayer For The Weary

Heavenly Father, we come to you weary and struggling to find the rest and balance we need. We struggle to find an hour, let alone a day, of rest. Our lives feel nothing like the Garden of Eden, where our first parents entered their daily labors with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Help us see clearly where the demands of our job, an unhealthy desire for material possessions, or other things may get in the way of the balance you call us to. And when we fail, help us truly know you are freely forgiving, ready to shower us with your grace and power to try again. At the end of the day, our heart is to honor you. In Jesus' name, amen.