How do you find balance in your life as a Christian?

[ALEA40]

I've been a born-again Christian now for 9 months. I'm finding that I'm completely in love with God. I read the bible every chance I get, I ruminate over scriptures, I read tons of christian books, I listen to Christian music, etc. I can't get enough and feel like I am trying to make up for lost time. I feel so filled with the Holy Spirit that I can barely breathe at times.

But as a mom, I have a lot of things that I have to get done on a daily basis. I've actually missed picking my son up from school because I was so enthralled in music that I lost track of the hour. I've even missed a doctor appointment. Sometimes I feel like I should be worshiping God and learning about Him every moment that I can. Doing laundry, dishes, and vacuuming doesn't seem as important as it used to. Decorating our home? Who cares? I've found God!!! Why is any of this stuff important? Who wants to spend money on stuff when there are hungry children that need help? The times that I've just worshiped God at a specific prayer time and bible reading time didn't really seem like enough. Now I know why people become nuns and priests. The joy of devoting your entire life to worshiping God is very appealing to me right now.

Anyone else having a hard time balancing your old and new life now as a Christian?

 

[Bible2]

Our new life as a Christian needs to still include serving others in love (Galatians 5:13c-14, Matthew 23:11, Matthew 24:45-46, Mark 9:35).

 

[dysert]

Kea44,

I'm glad that you're so turned on to God right now. It's been such a long time since I was a brand new Christian that I forget what it felt like. Over time, I believe you will develop the balance that's necessary when you have one foot in the Kingdom and the other foot in the world. You may have heard the expression, "She's so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good." The fact is that as long as we're here God has work for us to do. We'll have eternity to praise and worship Him, and we can certainly do so now. We can't forget, though, that we still have to trudge through the business here on earth before we're with Him forever.

I truly hope you stay on fire as you find the balance.

 

[ToBeBlessed]

I. Think you are definately on the right path. I set more alarms now a days. So set an alarm an hour before your appointment or when you need to be some where.

Sounds like you need to manage your time. IMO. leave notes in plain site. Like Doctor appointment at 3 pm.

I think you'll do fine.

 

[Emmy]

Dear KEA44. You need Love above all else. Jesus told a Lawyer in
Matthew 22: 35-40: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself." Jesus points out to us: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God wants Love from us, freely given and NO conditions tagged on. How do we do this? We treat all we know and all we meet, as we would love to be treated: kindly and always with friendly words. God will see our sincere love, and God will Bless us. ( Matthew 7: 7-10 " Ask and ye shall receive," then we thank God for all Love and Joy, and share it with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends. We keep asking and receiving, then thank God and share all around us.
The Bible tells us " Repent," and be " Born Again," then we thank God and share all Love and Joy all around us. Love is a Christian`s great weapon, with love we will overcome all anger and wrong behaviour. Love is also very catching, and we will find that people will treat us the same as we treat people, life will be enjoyable. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and carry on loving and caring.
God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters. We will forget our selfish desires, and will enjoy loving and caring. Jesus our Saviour will help and guide us: JESUS IS THE WAY. Unless we try we will never know how much selfless Love will change and turn us into the men and women, which God wants to be eternity with. I say this with love, KEA. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[ALEA40]

Thank you all for your responses. I think I take 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 literally when it says "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Jesus was always praying to his father. I think I just haven't mastered that ability to refocus my attention back and forth.

I love your quote dysert! "She's so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good." It's a great reminder to stay focused on the here and now.

I'm often reminded of the passages "in the world but not of the world, do not store up your treasures on earth, etc." It's a whole new way of looking at the world. I think the change in my perspective was so drastic that I'm still recovering from the shock waves

Blessings to you all!

 

[parsley]

You can also look at love in the perspective of your kids and family needing love -- "What you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me." So doing the little caring things for your family is not the opposite of worship, but part of how we worship God.

It's good that you bring this up, and see it, and are willing to find ways to improve. We all make mistakes in both directions, and have to reassess... and then assess again because everything changes.

Listening back is a good way to start improvements -- ask God to remind you when it's time to leave, and He likely will. Sometimes when I have been too tired to set an alarm and I know I need to, He wakes me up at the exact time I need to get up. (Even sometimes adding factors I'd forgotten.) It's a back-and-forth conversation.

It's great that you're having such a wonderful experience so far!

 

[Abandoned Barns]

[16]Rejoice always; [17]pray without ceasing; [18]in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I love that verse. I think sometimes that we get this "phone call" mentality about prayer. "Hey God, I wanted to let you know a little about what's been going on with me ... Oh, and speaking of that, is there anyway that you could ... But, you know, I want your will to be served, not mine ... okay God, i've got some stuff to do now, I love you so much. I'll call you back in a little bit. Bye Bye" We kind of give ourselves this feeling of okay I'm talking to God right now/I'm not talking to God right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying that there's anything wrong with formal prayer or worship order setting time aside to specifically spend with The Lord, I think those things are very important. I just think that as Christians we need to remember that that line of communication with God is always open - at least on his end. It's open when I'm at church, it's open when I'm on my knees, it's open when I'm on the job, or driving, or in the shower or eating supper. What the verse is saying to me is that as Christians we need to strive to minimize those disconnects between periods of being in communion with him. That doesn't necessarily mean more time on our knees. It can also mean inviting him into more parts of our life. "God, thank you for my job. Please stay with me today. Keep me safe and help me to use my position to bring you glory." - is a prayer. "God, this old truck starting to make me nervous, but I know you are in control" - is a prayer. "God, please help me make the right choice here" - is a prayer. "God, I don't know what to have for lunch." - is a prayer. It's as if in addition to being my God he's also a coworker who's always right next to me on the job, a family member who sitting at the supper table with us or on the couch as we watch TV, a friend who's always riding in the truck beside me, with me at the movies, when I'm playing catch with our boys, even when I'm sleeping. He's with me right now as I type this. In a perfect sense, I'd never forget that. There'd be no disconnect and I'd be in constant communion with him. In a way everything I do, everything I think and every decision I make would in itself be a prayer. But of course, there is no perfect sense, because there is no perfect Christians. We all forget, from time to time, that God's sitting in the truck next to us. We forget to ask his opinion, to include him, to invite him into those parts of our life that we think of is being tedious, boring, or routine. But we need him then too. Anyway, that's just my $.02, if it makes any sense.

 

[Peripatetic]

Thank you all for your responses. I think I take 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 literally when it says "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

God knows your heart, and He loves you when you show joy and praise Him. But He also loves you during the regular ups and downs of life... and He loved you just as much when you weren't a Christian at all! If there is one piece of advice I could give, it would be this: when this fire dies down a bit, don't be discouraged. Your life as a Christian will take many turns, and sometimes God will feel far away. Even the greatest Christian role models had many "dry" times. That's when we can lean on that foundation of wisdom we get from scripture. Wisdom sees beyond our emotions.

Also: be careful not to be too literal with the Bible. There are different literary forms, some of which are Eastern and hard for us to understand without a good study Bible. There is also some clever wordplay that may even seem contradictory if read with a Western literal eye. Don't worry though... you have plenty of time to learn!

 

[ALEA40]

Our new life as a Christian needs to still include serving others in love (Galatians 5:13c-14, Matthew 23:11, Matthew 24:45-46, Mark 9:35).

Soon after I became a Christian, I was called by the Holy Spirit to work with children and young adults with special needs. Something that I never would have considered before (my training is in environmental planning/science). I now volunteer three days a week while my youngest is in preschool and I am applying to graduate school to teach children with special needs. I pray before I walk into the classroom, I pray while I am there, and I pray when I leave. I pray for the children, I pray for the teachers and I pray for their parents. I constantly feel so full of the Holy Spirit that I want to jump for joy I think that is why so much of the little stuff doesn't seem as important anymore. Thank you all again for your kind words and advice.

Blessings to you all!!!

 

[turned around]

Hi,
Praise God for your enthusiasm. Jesus lives in you 24/7, taking care of your family is spiritual. Maybe take a look at Titus 2, Paul gives useful instruction on matters pertaining to the home. He has information in other letters about the family.

Grace to you.

 

[parsley]

Some people will say that the extra prayer/reading/worship will make life more efficient, and give peace of mind. That's true to a point, and it looks like it has given you a boost of energy and hope.

Things like decorating -- time will pass so quickly that you will find not many people appreciate the time and money put into it. The people who visit your house have their gazes fixed on Dance Revolution steps. The goals we set for ourselves are what we already know-- but God leads us into new goals that take us out of our expectations.

In contrast, people have a tendency to drive for "more is better." More spiritual talk, more prayer and worship, giving and service, fasting and using your time for God. Logic tells us we can't fast every day, we can't give up all the money that goes through our hands, and we can't let volunteer work replace paid work.

Within scriptures, there's a lot of daily life going on. People ate bread, sat beside the stream, ran into robbers along the path, traded at the market, raised their sheep, taught their children.

God commands a Sabbath rest within His Law. We spiritualize this and turn it into more church, more reading, more prayer, less time with family. Or we defy it and say the Law of Moses is no longer relevant. But it's worth asking ourselves why God established a no-labor day. We need it to keep our heads on straight.

We are tempted to squeeze a little more work in to get ahead of the game. We can also be tempted to squeeze more church in than is healthy for ourselves, our responsibilities and families.

People were not allowed to travel on Sabbaths -- that meant they were home with their families, who were also relaxing. They did not cook that day-- which meant one mother/grandmother was not stuck cooking for everyone on her only day "off" while they sat around watching the game. Managers/farmers were not allowed to make their staff or animals work on the Sabbath. (Preparations made beforehand.) People relaxed and returned to "themselves."

You can't really prepare the kids to be still beforehand -- but declaring a day of calm and low expectations will carry over into their demeanor. They can sense anxiety and peace in us.

There were no written requirements on how long a person was to stay in the temple, and only priests were expected to serve in the temple. Think of how many demands we put on ourselves, related to church -- when the focus of the Sabbath was rest, time with family, readings and prayer together at the dinner table, and leading ourselves to be less high-strung. Include others in your peace.

Devotion to God wasn't meant to be never-ending drive to appease God, but integration of faith with life and community. The sobering prophecies of "woe" often rebuked people for not caring about each others' basic needs. Or appearing religious but neglecting or using others for one's own advancement. Bad shepherding.

If we spend a lot of time in prayer and study, are other people taking on the balance of what we were supposed to do? Jesus taught a lot about love. Love means sacrifice, and is usually down-to-earth.

Every mother needs scattered states of elation and escapes into worship zones, to keep their sanity. It can invigorate and recharge. Also the books help us solve problems, sometimes before they happen.

We are spirits in human bodies with a lot of responsibilities. See if there are any things that need to be cut back so everyone has their sanity and rest.

 

[ALEA40]

Thank you for your responses everyone!!! Becoming a Christian has been the most astounding experience of my entire life. This is why we are all here. To find Jesus, to trust Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to work through each one of us!!! I feel like I've been dropped into an epic novel some days

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." A beautiful book showed up at my door last week. It was recommended here on the forum and I absently added it to a book order. Wow! It has everything to do with incorporating God into every moment of our lives. Instead of trying to find balance between my "mommy world" and "worship world", it's about inviting God into every moment of our lives. It is the collection of sweet and humbly written letters entitled "Practicing His Presence" by by Brother Lawrence and Frank C. Laubach. Laubach even specifically addresses moms with young children

Blessings to you all!!!

 

[1watchman]

As was posted already, one need not neglect responsibilities to be a happy and faithful Christian. One can walk with the Lord Jesus along our daily path of work. I remember the words of 2 Cor. 10:5 and just walk and talk with the Lord Jesus as my best Friend.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I've been a born-again Christian now for 9 months. I'm finding that I'm completely in love with God. I read the bible every chance I get, I ruminate over scriptures, I read tons of christian books, I listen to Christian music, etc. I can't get enough and feel like I am trying to make up for lost time. I feel so filled with the Holy Spirit that I can barely breathe at times.

But as a mom, I have a lot of things that I have to get done on a daily basis. I've actually missed picking my son up from school because I was so enthralled in music that I lost track of the hour. I've even missed a doctor appointment. Sometimes I feel like I should be worshiping God and learning about Him every moment that I can. Doing laundry, dishes, and vacuuming doesn't seem as important as it used to. Decorating our home? Who cares? I've found God!!! Why is any of this stuff important? Who wants to spend money on stuff when there are hungry children that need help? The times that I've just worshiped God at a specific prayer time and bible reading time didn't really seem like enough. Now I know why people become nuns and priests. The joy of devoting your entire life to worshiping God is very appealing to me right now.

Anyone else having a hard time balancing your old and new life now as a Christian?

I do think daily Bible reading and prayer are among the essentials that bring balance and direction to the believer's life. Meeting with other, like-minded Christians is important also.

By God's grace, my wife and I have sought to read the Bible together and pray every day since we were married (unless one of us is away on business, etc.).

Blessings.

 

[Harry3142]

KEA44-

The sincerity of our faith is measured not only in our desire to grow spiritually through study and prayer, but also in our witnessing the problems and suffering of those around us and having compassion for them. Your desiring to work with special-needs children is evidence of this compassion being a strong part of your nature, and that is as it should be.

Remember this: Christianity is a religion whose members' actions are governed by the motivations which underlie those actions. There are certain motivations which we are never to entertain, even if they are cloaked in piety. There are other motivations which we are always to welcome, as they are those which culminate in our conducting ourselves properly as Christians. This passage, which I have quoted numerous times, lists both sets of motivations:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26,NIV)

This passage is what I call 'The Christian's Code of Conduct'. If our actions are dictated by the motivations which are listed as 'the acts of the sinful nature', then those actions are to be seen as sinful, due to their impetus itself being sinful. And this applies even to those actions which those who would lead us astray insist that we call 'righteous', or even 'pious'. Just as a poisoned tree cannot yield good fruit, no action which stems from any of those motivations can be seen as righteous.

However, if our actions are dictated by the motivations which are listed as 'the fruit of the Spirit', then those actions have assurance of conforming to God's will, due to their impetus itself conforming to his will. Whether we're reading Holy Writ or picking up children from school, whether we're listening to gospel music or keeping a doctor's appointment, these motivations are the means whereby we can exhibit our faith in Jesus Christ, as well as their being the means whereby we can show our gratitude to God for what he has done on our behalf.

 

[Prinx]

Seek God and involve him in all that you do

 

[parsley]

I pray before I walk into the classroom, I pray while I am there, and I pray when I leave. I pray for the children, I pray for the teachers and I pray for their parents.

There are going to be some parents who are SO grateful you did that.
I used to teach or drop off my toddlers/infants in Sunday school, and the room would be so noisy and chaotic. There was one woman who would visit and do what you described, and the entire room would quiet as she walked through.
It happened every time she visited.

I told her, and she was surprised. She hadn't noticed the difference because she hadn't heard the noise before.

So keep doing what you're doing! What a blessing it is to others.

 

[jannikitty]

It's been many years of doing the balancing act for me. I just make sure I set a time aside for daily bible reading, prayer, and praise each day and the rest just falls into place. Years ago when my children were young (they are now in their 40's and one is 51) I would spend way too much time reading and studying in my bible when they needed me to just sit with them and listen to them. Sometimes they resented that and two of them are not now serving God nor attending a church. Ask the Lord to always show you what your priorities are. Remember that you are not a nun or a priest so you don't get to spend 24/7 in prayer..(most of them don't either). The key for me is to experience God as I do the daily chores, etc. that need to be done. A book written along time ago helped me focus on the presence of God. It was called "Practicing the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence who was a monk who served most of the day fixing food in a kitchen. He found God right there in the pots and pans. It's a quick and worthwhile read if interested. Blessings..

 

[ALEA40]

It's been many years of doing the balancing act for me. I just make sure I set a time aside for daily bible reading, prayer, and praise each day and the rest just falls into place. Years ago when my children were young (they are now in their 40's and one is 51) I would spend way too much time reading and studying in my bible when they needed me to just sit with them and listen to them. Sometimes they resented that and two of them are not now serving God nor attending a church. Ask the Lord to always show you what your priorities are. Remember that you are not a nun or a priest so you don't get to spend 24/7 in prayer..(most of them don't either). The key for me is to experience God as I do the daily chores, etc. that need to be done. A book written along time ago helped me focus on the presence of God. It was called "Practicing the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence who was a monk who served most of the day fixing food in a kitchen. He found God right there in the pots and pans. It's a quick and worthwhile read if interested. Blessings..

Thank you Jannikitty! I wonder if you may have posted this title elsewhere on this forum. I ran across this book on the forum and it has brought me immense joy and insight since I originally posted this question. Thanks again and what a great book! Blessings!