How to Keep BALANCED in Every Area of Life

There are different areas to our lives—family, marital, work, devotional, ministerial, educational, recreational, fitness, social, homestead, dating, and so on. How do you recognize God’s will in these areas? And how to you achieve and maintain balance? How do you keep from being sidetracked—hindered—by things that drain your time & energy and aren’t conducive to your God-given goals?

As Christians living in a wicked generation, I encourage saturating yourself with the things of God with focus on (1) cultivating a relationship with the LORD and (2) growing in knowledge, understanding & wisdom of the Holy Scriptures. Put in practice what you learn as you have opportunity.

Keep in mind, however, that the Bible doesn’t teach us to seek the LORD only, but rather seek God first (Matthew 6:33). In short, we’re to make our Creator first priority—i.e. sell out to God—but don’t get out of balance by seeking God only. That’s a ticket to looney religiosity and burnout.

Acknowledge God in your life and the LORD will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). He’ll show you where He wants you to go as you seek Him. Simply ask the LORD in prayer to instruct you and teach you in the way you should go in each area of life. The Bible says that God hears us when we ask according to His will (1 John 5:14) so you can base your request on passages like Proverbs 3:5-6 and Psalm 32:8-9.

How exactly does God “direct your path” when you acknowledge Him? By dropping desires in your heart to motivate you. The Hebrew word for desire is ta’avah (tah-âv-AW), which means “that which you earnestly long for.” It’s a desire that stays with you and you can’t get rid of it. The more you pray about it, the stronger it gets. We’re talking about a righteous desire, not a wicked one (examples of the latter include the desire to commit sexual immorality or engage in gossip/slander). The Bible says that the desire of the righteous is good (Proverbs 11:23)! Religion has told us for centuries that all desire is bad. No, only evil, sinful desires are bad. Christianity is not the death of desire—it’s the death of selfish and ungodly desire as you learn to walk in the spirit and be spirit-controlled rather than flesh-ruled.

You can’t obtain your (righteous) desires until you know what they are; so get close to the LORD, look deep within, and draw them out. This is in line with godly wisdom as shown in Proverbs 20:5: “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.”

How is this applicable to finding balance in every area of life? Once you know your purpose you then have a goal. Hebrews 12:1 instructs us to “throw off (1) every thing that hinders and (2) the sin that so easily entangles.” The passage then encourages us to run with perseverance the race (goal, mission) marked out for us.

The “thing that hinders” is a something that holds you down and prevents you from fulfilling your God-given objective. The thing itself is neutral and not a sin, but it saps your time and energy so much that it hinders you from completing your assignment. It therefore becomes a weight in your life—something that weighs you down and encumbers more productive output. People can become somewhat obsessed with such a thing and it thus creates imbalance, hampering the person from fulfilling their current assignment (God-given goal).

This “weight” could be any number of things depending on the individual—computer games, movies, sports-watching, golf, boating/fishing, a certain person/relationship, etc. These things are not evil in and of themselves, but because they distract you from your calling (goal/assignment) and drain your time & energy they become a negative thing for you. You must either carefully guard the time you spend with such things or, if necessary, remove them from your life altogether in order to fulfill your mission, at least for a season.

If something has a “hold” on you—i.e. you’ve become kind of obsessed with it—consider fasting from it and that will swiftly break the “spell.” By “fasting” I mean abstaining from it—putting it on the sideline for a period of time. Seek the LORD and the Holy Spirit will guide you on how long to fast from the thing in question. Consider 40 days. If you find that excessive, consider 21 days, 10 days, 7 days or 3 days — whatever will be effective to break the thing’s hold over you and bring back balance in that particular area of your life. Be led of the Holy Spirit.

Consider sports-viewing. I like to watch a game now and then for R&R,* but one game is about 3 hours. If you watch 2 games that’s 6 hours! Needless to say, guard how much time you spend on sports each week. Decide beforehand how many games a week you’re going to watch and stick to your plan. The same goes for movies, TV shows, computer games, boating/fishing and so forth. Free-up your time so you can spend it on your Spirit-led goal/assignment, whatever that may be.

* Sloth is of the flesh, of course, but R&R is necessary and healthy, as long as it doesn’t become an idol. The Bible teaches that there’s “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

As for the “sin that so easily entangles,” this is any flesh proclivity that you’ve developed a taste for and it therefore seriously tempts you from time to time. You must make it a top priority to remove this sin from your life, whatever the cost (Genesis 4:7). If you don’t, it will prevent you from obtaining your God-given desire/goal. Check out the simple 3-point strategy in this article as it will help you walk free of any carnal pitfall.

Put these things into practice and you will keep balanced in every area of life. I practice them daily and could give examples from my life and the lives of others. They’re tried & true.

For a simple three-point plan that will help you (1) discern God’s will in each area of life and (2) how to fulfill it, see this article or the corresponding video.

This article is available in book form as a section in chapter 5 of…