The Struggle  

Our lives today are busy and so complex—filled with competing priorities and demands for our time and attention. Family, work, hobbies, health, home maintenance, social life, finances, church or spiritual activities—

How do you choose between competing priorities for life and work?

People everywhere talk about wanting work / life balance, but what if that’s the wrong goal?

Can work / life balance actually be achieved?

There is a Way!

The Truth

Here’s the truth, you cannot have a balanced life without a true center. Consider how a scale works. A scale is able to balance things because it has a weighted center. Its ability to weigh things comes from a firm foundation.

Those who follow Jesus have a distinct advantage when it comes to managing priorities.

The distinction is:

Christ in you, the hope of glory. - [.no-reftag]Colossians 1:27[.no-reftag]

As a child of God you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Christ is your center. You’re no longer living your way, but by faith in Christ, who loves you and gave his life for you - giving you the peace, purpose, and power to live His way (Galatians 2:20).

With Christ at the Center — all other things can be weighed and evaluated properly.

Everything – our hearts, minds, and actions – become an overflow and expression of Christ, our center.

‍Centering Commands

Jesus tells us the 1st commandment is to love God with all of our heart, all our soul, and all our mind (Mark 12:30).

Understanding the great love God has for us fuels us to love Him back —- surrendering our hearts and lives to Him -- repurposing all our life for one thing: a response to His mercy (Romans 12:1). All of life and work is our opportunity to worship and glorify him.

"The second part of the centering command is this: Love your neighbor as yourself." (12:31)

This means that every situation that involves or impacts people is for the purpose of loving them.

When we approach our relationships in love, we not only bless others, but in partnering with them, we begin to renew culture, redeeming the earth under God's will - making all things new.

Just as loving and worshiping God glorifies him, so does loving others and renewing culture in His name.

All of this is the way to glorify God.

This means that everything we do is for His glory -- our words, work, relationships, and all the decisions we make (Romans 11:36).

Center Your Life

This applies to every aspect of our lives and is perhaps easiest to see in our personal relationships. Take marriage for an example:

This may sound crazy, but our #1 job in our marriage relationship is to Love God first. It's honoring to God for us to bless and care for our spouse above ourselves.

Then together, a healthy marriage creates a family that renews culture - a lot of culture - as we influence our neighborhoods, schools, friends, and churches.

The same principles apply to our work.

Nothing is apart from God. Our work is an opportunity to Love God, Bless Others, and Renew Culture. All of life is a chance to worship. Work is worship!

When we give our work to God, focusing on the needs of others, real flourishing starts to happen in our workplace and communities – we see and influence cultural renewal.

Perfect Is Practical

Making Jesus your center for daily life and work is the most practical thing you can do.

With Christ at your Center, everyday decisions are made with simple questions / considerations like these:

• How will this decision help you know and honor God?
• How might this situation best serve the person who needs you?
• How will this action benefit the community or world around you?

Every decision, every dimension of our lives is an opportunity to worship and glorify God…

Putting our love of God and our gifts to use for the benefit of others, for his ultimate glory, transforming the world around us.

This is how you make decisions in a world full of competing priorities - by depending on your greatest asset: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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