Lately, I’ve become more aware of the compartments I tolerate in my life. Often, when we talk about faith and life integration, we begin with a faulty assumption.That faulty assumption then becomes the basis of all of our logic.
We all know about work-life balance, or the idea that we must balance the different areas of our lives in equal measures. The theory goes that if we spend too much time, money, or energy on any one area, we get out of balance. Many work-life balance exercises ask people to identify key areas in their lives, like work or school, family, faith, recreation, self, and others. The objective is to determine those areas and then allocate time, money, and energy to each so as to create balance.
For someone who follows Jesus, there are two flaws with the basic assumptions of this model. Because the assumptions are fundamental to the model, any work we do with this model ends up disconnected from real truth.
Assumption One: Faith cannot be compartmentalized
Faith, or the practice of following Jesus, can’t be one of the areas we compartmentalize. We belong to him and subject ourselves to his will and desire for us. The highest joy we can experience as followers of Jesus comes from doing what he wants us to do. Sometimes, he wants us to invest in our family. Other times, he may want us to provide for them (work). And then there are times for rest (self). We can pick the compartments, but they all exist in our faith, or the degree of our life that belongs to Jesus.
If there is some part of our life that we haven’t given to Jesus, that’s another issue. As we give him more of our lives, we learn that everything about our lives belongs to him. Our limited view of Jesus tempts us to think there are parts of our lives that are not subject to his authority. But the real Jesus is Lord of all. And all is all.
Assumption Two: We don’t get to choose how much time and energy goes into each area
The second fallacy is when we operate as if the decision to put time in energy into any one area is up to us. Sure, we get to choose. But when we choose without Jesus, we’re always wrong. Because making a choice without Jesus is worse than having Jesus with the wrong choice. Jesus said that only one thing was necessary: that we learn to freely choose to ask Jesus, listen to him, and do what he says. This isn’t up to us; it’s up to him. But we each must uncover that truth for ourselves. Our natural tendency is to go our own way, make our own choices. But our natural way will lead us to an everlasting dead end.
Today, let’s ask God to show us how we can avoid compartmentalizing our life. We can begin by giving every part of our lives to Jesus and trust that he will guide us on what to do next. We can find life, joy, and purpose when we fully follow Jesus, withholding no part of our lives from him. But we won’t follow him until we stop listening to ourselves and the world around us.
Featured Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash; In-Text photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels
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