Today, we have posted the last audio record in our To Love Their Children class. We finished the class last night. From the perspective of someone who hopes to be an Excellent Wife, the class presented a lot of challenges. One such challenge really interests me today.

One of the most popular questions of our day turns on the issue of "balance." It is rather amazing how many aspects of our life seem to be tied up in "balance." There are dozens of websites on how to "make my life balance." We are told to "balance" our spiritual and physical lives, to "balance" our roles in our jobs and our homes, to "balance" the "demands" of being a wife and a mother, and on and on into almost everything.

What makes this odd is that the Bible says nothing at all about balance. The Bible does not tell you to balance being a parent and being a wife. It tells you to be an Excellent Wife and to love your children. In Proverbs 31, it is clear that loving her children effectively is part of being an Excellent Wife. There is no balancing involved at all.

I think much of our "balancing" talk is just noise to make us feel justified in refusing to do what we are supposed to do. We cannot be loving wives because we must "balance" being good moms, we will say, even though the two things have no conflict at all. We cannot be faithful in all spiritual things because we must "balance" worldly things. We can refuse one thing without any guilt, just by claiming we are "balancing" it with something else.

We are to "balance" our emotions so no one sees us cry, unless, of course, we want to "balance" our emotions to let people see us cry. If we cry often, then we are said to be "unbalanced." If we never cry, then we are said to be "unbalanced." Where does this stuff come from?

The real problem is that we have created an unnecessary problem to add to our lives. I have many things I have to do in my life. I must do those things in the light of God's word, especially His command to me to love Him and to love my neighbor.

But, now, I am told that it is not enough to obey God. I am also (I am told) supposed to "balance" all this stuff in some way. It is not enough that I do what God tells me, I must also somehow "balance" each thing with some other thing. My life becomes not just about what I do, but about how I do this other, extra-Biblical "balancing" thing. Every duty becomes more complicated by the balancing command. People will complain if I appear "unbalanced," based on whatever they think, without any reference to what God says.

Life is hard enough to live without adding extra burdens. "Balancing" is not a Bible burden.

The Bible does not speak of balancing (except for references to the physical tool that was called a "balance"). I am not to balance my life. I am to live my life. I am not to choose a little of this and a little of that, but am to take all that God has given me.

The Bible speaks of walking a path, not about balancing. I am to walk the path God gives me, to walk in a manner worthy of my calling, to walk in the statutes of God, to walk in the old godly ways. I am never told to balance anything.

Being a good parent does not involve any conflict with being an Excellent Wife. As Proverbs 31 makes clear (and as your own heart tells you), an Excellent Wife is always an Excellent Mother. There is nothing to be balanced.

Stop balancing your life and start living your life. Walk the path God has set out for you. You may be surprised how wonderful a walk it can be.



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