BALANCING HOME, JOB AND MINISTRY -P.

Stanley Jones LIVING LIFE: Long before Christ, a profound question was asked by a King to a great man. The answer was startling. The question asked was Pharaoh and the man was none other than Jacob. It was recorded in the pages of Bible in Gen 47:8. The question by Pharaoh was How old are you?. The answer of Jacob was The years of my pilgrimage was 130.My years have been few and difficult. Almost at the end of his life Jacob realized that the life lived was not the length of years lived but the years of life lived. GODS PURPOSE: God has a purpose in each of our lives that we should live our lives. That means that we should not waste our lives nor short live our lives. This is possible only if we understand the makers purpose in our life. Broadly, Gods purpose is 1.that we bring glory unto Him 2.that we serve others. Basically our life not for ourselves. It is for God and for others. Not to fulfill our own pleasures and desires.This is general purpose of God. But then, God has also specific purpose in each of our lives as to how we can glorify God and how we can serve others. In realizing this purpose we find fulfillment in our lives. One has to spend lot of time in prayer and in waiting upon Him to find out what is Gods specific purpose in ones life. Technically this is the mission of the individual/family. It is even better to write down his/her own mission statement. One has to live according to the mission God has given. Then there will not be any spiritual secular clashes.The greatest commandment according to Jesus is:to LOVE your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And to LOVE your neighbour as yourself These two commandments are like boundaries to Christian living. At times we try to please others(boss/spouse) at the cost of pleasing God. Then we defunct the first commandment. At other times we try to please ourselves in career or ministry then we defunct the second commandment. Hence the balancing among Home, Job and Ministry lies between LOVING God and LOVING others. TENSIONS: Even as we live according to the God given mission, we find many challenges as we apportion the available time to many tasks. It is one thing to apportion the available time to many activities and entirely another thing to cope up with many activities of life. For example, as a man he has to function as a husband at home, teacher/doctor/employee at work, and father to children, a graduate at EGF, a member in the Church and a citizen in the society. One man- a husband, a father, an employee, a graduate, a member and a citizen entirely different roles but should be played by one man. Humanly this is not possible, but God made it possible in the doctrine of Trinity. Ravi Zacharias says: The unity in diversity in community is possible only in Christianity in the doctrine of Trinity. TIME FACTOR: The average life span of man is 25,550days(70 years) to 30,000 days (80 years). We should check how much of life is already spent and how much is left. What we are going to do with the time yet available with us is a question which has bearing in eternity. Consider a days activities. After spending time for work, sleeping etc we are left with 6-8 hours for family, others and for ministry. Unless we spend a very planned,

disciplined and systematic life we just cant live the life God expects us to live. Many times our frequent excuse is, I dont have time Next time when we encounter such situation replace the excuse with, I didn make up time. What a difference ! That means with little bit of planning, we can find time for many activities. Another area of making time is utilizing the loose time. With foresight we can utilize the time.For example take a book to read in the available time in the train or list out the calls you want to make while you wait for a bus. PRIORITIES: In the life journey as Christians we face number of complex situations when we have to choose among the given alternatives. These alternatives are whether we have to give importance to family, job or ministry. We cannot give any idealistic position all the time. Of course our number one priority is always God himself to obey Him and to please Him. Once we obey Him all other activities become important Priorities are basically time related. At times family needs attention so much that we may not attend work properly. At other times there may be some urgency to meet some deadlines at work and as a result family time gets reduced temporarily. These are temporary adjustments.God expects that we be successful in all the areas of family, job and ministry. If we are successful in two areas and fail in one area it is not success in Gods sight. For example if we are successful in career and ministry and fail in home, then the failure will catch up the success. GODS AGENDA: Remember that Gods agenda is always peaceful, well ordered, gives freedom, joy and fruitful.When we go out of Gods agenda there is imbalance. Gods agenda is that we take care of our family-fulfilling our roles as given in the scriptures, giving time to the family. Gods agenda is that we excel in our work/job thus glorify God. Gods agenda is that we should be engaged in the great commission. But then, in the name of working hard we should not become workaholics. If we fail to draw a line for a boss, we dare to draw a line to God. If we are not focused in the ministry, we make ourselves indispensable. If we become overprotective in the family, we fail to trust Him for protection and providence.If we fail in these areas there is imbalance. Our own agenda leads to frustration, guilt,haste and monotonous. Jesus Christ is our model. He did all the time Gods agenda.In other words, He was on Gods to do list.He was not on the to do list of the disciples and the multitudes.He did not heal everyone in town. There were many whose needs were unmet Yet He completed His work in 3 years. He said, I have finished the work which you gave me to do Jacob to Jesus. Jacob lived 147 years, yet he did not live all the years. Jesus lived only 33 years, yet He declared that He finished the work.He was never frustrating, never guilty,never in hurry, with no regrets. His life was fruitful, blessing to many. As His life flows in us, He expects us to live such a blessed life. Shall we?