How many Christians do you know who are workaholics? How many people do you speak to (myself included) who go on about how busy they are at work? How little time they have for anything else. How busy they are with their church activity. How tired they constantly seem to be these days. How stressed they are about this that or the other.
And how many of these people tell you these things with a slight air of pious martyrdom or even pride? How often do you actually accept the accusation of being a workaholic with that slight feeling of "good at least someone's noticed all the hours I'm putting in." We live in a generation which is consumed by hard work. We are constantly challenged by a culture which says I have to be working as hard or harder than those around me. This is a culture which exists both among those who work for secular organisations and for Christian organisations.Have a
look at the following questionnaire, and see how well you score.

This is adapted from some work carried out by Paul Thorne and Michael Johnson in their book Workaholism - Life in the Killing Fields
of Work. T/F

1. I often wake up thinking about work.
T/F

2. If someone said I was driven, I would feel flattered.
T/F

3. I feel guilty if I haven't at least tried to do some work at
the weekend, or if I haven't undertaken at least two nights of church
service/activity in the week.T/F

4. I cannot say 'No' to another new challenge, even when I clearly should.T/F

5. My belief in my own worth is wrapped up in who I am at work, or who I am at church.
T/F

6. I know I have lost friends because I am so committed to my work.
T/F

7. There are leisure activities I used to enjoy that I have had to give up because of work.
T/F

8. In today's competitive world, in my view, companies couldn't survive without workaholics.T/F

9. I need constantly renewing challenges - it's my oxygen.T/F

10. I often check how well I'm doing by comparison to my friends and peer group.T/F

11. My career has to come first no matter what.
T/F

12. My diary is always full months ahead.
T/F

13. I worry a lot about business and financial matters.
T/F

14. I feel guilty about my inability to do more in the church.
T/F

15. I find my time with God compromised by the other (work and church) activity in my life.
T/F

16. I find it hard to prioritise anything outside work and church activity.
T/F

17. When I�ve put in a really hard day, I feel better about myself.T/F

18. I have to work long hours to provide for my family.
T/F

19. Life seems to be nothing but work, work, work.
T/F

20. The world is so competitive today, you've got to run just to stand still.T/F

21. Sometimes I wonder why I work so hard, but it doesn't stop me doing it.T/F

22. My spouse keeps telling me that I'm married to the firm.T/F

23. In many respects, my workplace is an easier place to be than my home.
T/F

24. By the time I've finished work, I'm too tired to do anything else.T/F

25. Because there are so may duty calls from work, family and church I have no time for myself.
T/F

26. I feel I have to be the best everywhere, all the time. T/F

I would suggest that if you get a score of more than 12 you are probably well on the way to becoming a workaholic of some sort. There may be any one of a number of reasons for this - pride, insecurity, peer-pressure, competition, material desire, bad management, activity addiction, sense of duty, a fear of home or a fear of death - whatever.
But the point is this, that workaholism is never good for us, it is never good for those we love, and it is never glorifying to Jesus Christ, because it always represents an addiction to - or dependence on - something other than Him. The truth is that workaholism is wrong. We could add to this list those who view the intensity of their activity
in the church as a mark of their spiritual maturity. This is not to rubbish the diligence of many who do so much for the church, but rather to encourage churches to see work as work, and as something which is both distinct and potentially damaging to our relationship with Jesus Christ. All too easily we read our work for God as being synonymous to our walk with Him. For those of us who are employed in regular secular jobs by day, a confusion such as this might prompt us to spend all our free time rushing from one church activity to the next, while our relationship with Jesus is ignored.

Towards Balance

Some of the teaching in the church about the importance of balanced
life is, frankly, unconvincing. The biggest problem is that the
authority given by the church on the matter could be just as readily
gleaned from Vogue or GQ. It seems that often all we do is regurgitate
worldly wisdom rather than teaching Biblical wisdom as taught by God
the Creator. By and large, although we can all see the human merit of
living well balanced lives, few if any of us have any theological
framework within which to place such wisdom. Too often, the result of
this is neglected relationships, vanished quiet times and successive
generations of workaholic Christians exhausted beyond capacity. This
surely is not the way God really wants us to work.

Given my own difficulty with this area, it is with some fear
and trepidation that I attempt to teach on the subject, and those of
you who know me I would ask that you judge me as a slow learner rather
than just a blatant hypocrite! I'm no great expert, and this is all a
great learning curve for me, but as I have weighed the matter, I can
reach no other conclusion than this: a lifestyle which is balanced
through its total integration under the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not
just a nice thing, but Biblically speaking it is commanded of us, and
should form a significant foundation to our Christian witness. Pretty
bold stuff - eh? Stay with me and I'll explain my reasoning.Before that
though, the background to any decision we make on balance in our lives
must be our own set of priorities. If we decide what is important in
our lives then this will help us to see what can be most readily
sacrificed in the quest to keep our lives in balance. As Christians we
don't have to think too long and hard to know what our priority should
be: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul;
and love your neighbour as you love yourself." So for the Christian
priority is made up of relationships - first our relationship with God,
and second our relationships with one another. Everything that we do,
including our career decisions, should be orientated towards the
promotion of these priorities.The Bible doesn't use the language of
balance and priority in the way that we would like, but there is no
doubt that God teaches us how our lives can be most fruitfully balanced
in a manner which will glorify Him. A passage which I have found
helpful is Colossians 3, and you may find it useful to have this open
whilst reading the following observations.There are three main
sections, as Paul talks first of our Christian identity, second of the
transformation from out sinful nature, and thirdly of an integrated
approach to Christian lifestyle. I hope that my comments will only
clarify rather than muddle Paul's thinking for us.

A Question of Identity

When I talk to people, I ask them to list words which describe
first of all their experience of work, and secondly their feelings
about their Christian life. Write out a list of each for yourself, and
you won't be surprised to find two completely different vocabularies.
Interestingly, the word which I have found is most consistent to both
groups is the word 'IDENTITY,' and this takes us right to the heart of
the matter for many of us.It is a well known fact that in our society
what we do defines who we are. When we meet people we invariably ask
sooner or later what they do - it helps us to identify whether or not
we will find things in common with them, whether we might know any of
the same people, and it also (negatively) informs us of where they fit
into our perceived social or intellectual scale. I am a surveyor. On
one level it is a fact, because I have letters after my name to prove
it, but on another level it is totally secondary. First and foremost, I
am a human being created in God's likeness, redeemed by Jesus Christ
and now identified in His future kingdom. Secondly, I am also enabled
by God to do my work as a surveyor or a staff worker for UCCF.
Essentially, though, I am who I am and not just what I am!Four times
within the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 Paul uses
this phrase 'with Christ' - he wants us to know that our identity here
and now is wrapped up in the person of Jesus. More than that he wants
us to know that in the future Christ will return and at that point we
too will appear with Him in glory - not only is our present with Him
but so is our future identity. But how does this help on the issue of
work?
The result of this double definition can go in one of two ways. Either
it can lead to an integrated approach to Christian living, which sees
my identity being wholeheartedly wrapped up in Jesus, and which
acknowledges His prior claim over every aspect of my life. Or else it
can lead to my life being divided into spiritual and work - a
schizophrenic lifestyle which will never really find its true
balance.Where is your identity? Is it in the person of Jesus Christ and
all that this means, or is it in some tin-pot lifestyle which you hold
so dear - success, status, money, power, position in the church? Just
look at Colossians 1 and remind yourself of the choice we have.

COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And
he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the
firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the
supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in
him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether
things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.
Let me ask you again - where is your identity? At the end of the day
there can be no contest. So what� you ask, how does this concept of
identity help in the battle against imbalanced lifestyle?Knocking Out
the Idols?

The first thing Paul wants to knock out of the way if we are to
live in the light of what we believe is the idols we elevate before
God. Paul is not concerned in this section with religious idols, he's
already had a go at them in ch 2, rather he's concerned with our
lifestyle issues, the things which we allow to crowd out our space and
time with Jesus Christ. Look at Paul-s list v 5 'sexual sin, impurity,
lust, shameful desires and greed for the pleasures of this life - which
is idolatry.' What is his solution? Well, look at verse 1 and verse 2.
If our identity is in Christ, then we should set our hearts and our
minds (that is our desire and our will) on the things of His kingdom.
In contrast, v 5 we should 'put to death' the things of this earth
(earthly nature NIV). As if this is not sufficient instruction Paul
then graphically illustrates what he means, and sets up the contrast
between sin and idolatry (v 5-9) which are the things of this earth,
and the things of Christ�s kingdom - love, unity, the word of Christ,
peace etc (v 12-17).If we are to hit the whole area of balance or
integration in our lives, then we have to start by being brutally
honest with ourselves about where Jesus Christ really stands in our
lives - minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. And we need to
be brutally honest about what we may allow to stand in His place. Where
is our focus - is it on the things above, or is it still entrenched
within our worldly desires. For many of us the list is the same as
Paul's, but often there are other things which can have a much more
subtle impact in distracting us from Jesus: status, material wealth,
power, our perceived freedom, our friendships, our personal morality,
our egos, our image, our habits (late nights, telly, obsession with the
opposite sex, pornography, drink etc), or most significantly in the
context of this article, our career.Sure, when we're asked in public
what our priorities are we can give all the right answers - we know it
should be Jesus - but day after day we live our lives in ways that
display quite different priorities - often the gratification of our own
sinful nature. It is quite one thing for us to have a theoretical
mission statement to see Christ glorified in our lives, but if the
practical reality of our lives actively denies this possibility then we
should perhaps question the genuine extent of our commitment to this
cause.

Hitting the Balance

This is often tough. At one level the process of setting my sights
on the things above may require personal discipline, while on another
level it may require strategic alteration to my life's planned
trajectory. Let me explain. If I have difficulty in spending time daily
with Christ, and so seeking to attune my way of thinking to His through
familiarity with scripture because I can't get up in the morning, then
perhaps I should learn to be more disciplined in my bed times, or my
late night telly watching. Or again, if we never have time to see our
family, then perhaps we have to get better at saying 'No' to some of
our evening meetings, no matter how important they seem to be.On the
other hand, the goal of achievement in our work may become a cloud
obscuring all other horizons - including our stated focus which is the
glorification of Jesus himself. I can see in myself a repeated pattern
of increasing tiredness and increasing work pressure which forces my
eyes off the goal and onto the task - my relationship with my Creator,
and my role within His creation, is then fractured. Personally, it is
at these times that I become short tempered and downhearted -
ironically, I also know that my work suffers! What do we do about this -
well perhaps we have to seriously reset our sights and aim a little
lower in terms of workload or ambition. If Paul can command Christians
to make it their ambition to lead a quiet life, then perhaps we should
reconsider our natural drive for achievement, and ask ourselves
honestly what our motivation is - Christ or self. We may have to
reassess our priorities, and decide which things to cut out in order to
avoid burn out or neglect of key areas. I suspect that many of us do
this to some extent when we wake up on Sunday morning too tired to go
to church - aren't we making a priority judgement? But in this case,
isn't it the wrong one! I heard of a Christian lawyer in New York who
jumped at the offer of promotion to partnership, only to find his
marriage disintegrated within a few months because of the hours he had
to work. He was desperate to rectify the situation, but didn�t know
what to do without completely reassessing his work situation. Now there
is nothing wrong with hard work, but if the guy had had his head
screwed firmly on, he might have asked himself what cost there would be
in accepting such a job, knowing the hours he would have to work. Then
he might have prayerfully weighed up whether or not this career choice
was both honouring God, and also a justifiable level of risk with which
to play with people's lives.This is not an anti-promotion point, in
fact the story was told to me by the chairman of a merchant bank.
Promotion is great, and may help us feel to appreciated, but if we make
it the only benchmark for success in our lives we will have no standard
by which to judge the value of our key relationships. More
specifically, if we allow promotion to be our guiding priority in our
lives, it will fairly quickly occlude of perspective of Jesus.

One of the founders of the McDonald's burger empire went on
record as saying I have three priorities - God, my family and my work,
but when I get to work the order is reversed. Now this guy is not a
Christian, and we can't expect him to get his theology right, but
contrast his approach with that of Wil Stileman, a young vicar, once
said that his priorities were: his relationship with Jesus; his wife;
his family; then his work for God. What I have had to learn is that the
only way to keep these priorities in order when the work pressure
builds up is to ensure that the order is never allowed to change. So,
when planning my diary, I now have to prayerfully consider how my
relationship with God and my relationship with my wife fit into my
working schedule. So, What's it got to do with Witness? Do you recall
that I mentioned earlier that the whole area of balanced lifestyle
could be seen as foundational to our Christian witness? How did I get
there?
Well the answer is quite simple. Before Paul starts talking to these
Christians about their balance in life, he first reminds them of their
identity in Christ. Everything about our lifestyle should reflect this
identity - 'we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of
the Lord' - ch1 v 10. It is because of where we know we�ve come from
(created by God through Christ), and where we know we're going (we will
be revealed anew in Christ) that we know who we are here and now
(redeemed in Christ). It is also because of this theological background
that we know that we're called to live out a certain lifestyle, so the
balance that we exercise in our lives will show others our priorities
and our identity.