CHAOS THEORY!

"Stop trying to balance life and begin to be led by the rhythms of life in concert with the Holy Spirit. This means that sometimes life will be more fast-paced and other times it will be slower. Live your life not directed by your calendar, but led by the Spirit."
By: Virgil Lee
March 2022

Let’s be honest for a moment. Life is chaos! Unless you are living a monastic lifestyle, trying to balance family, work, friends, and soul care is impossible. There I said it - IMPOSSIBLE. Why? Because there is always something trying to distract you from your current focus, and many times it’s something good.

If you are anything like me, you tried and failed to balance it all. You tried to pray, you tried the newest day planner, you read the best books, and you still came up short. So what do you do if you have a calling, a dream, a family, a ministry, and your soul (all significant)? Do you give up on some of those things hoping that someday you will be able to pick them back up again? But without dreams life is hopeless, without calling there is no direction, without family you lose the most precious, without ministry you aren't impacting eternity, and without your soul, well, you are dead in the water. No, you cannot give up anything. So you continue to rob Peter to pay Paul in the ever-revolving rat race of life and settle for BUSY being your life and always being behind. It’s just the cross that a Christian leader has to carry, right?

Wrong. I pose to you that we have it all backward and that there is a better way. Stop trying to balance life and begin to be led by the rhythms of life in concert with the Holy Spirit. This means that sometimes life will be more fast-paced and other times it will be slower. Live your life not directed by your calendar, but led by the Spirit. Jesus said to come to Him all that were tired and weary and He would give them rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Many of us are making Jesus out to be a liar. “But I am supposed to do more for Jesus." Nope. You are putting it through your lens of earning your righteousness at that point. If God called you to do something, He will give you the grace to do it (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Life is chaos, but with Jesus setting the rhythm of your life, being busy becomes productive for the Kingdom. Over the past few years, I have worn many hats in ministry and life. Once I gave myself the okay to stop balancing and making sure my time was equalized between everything, I found peace and rhythms that are led by Jesus. And I realized that I have more time than I have ever had before. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but are we allowing the Spirit to lead them, or are we trying to balance them in our own way of thinking?

Therefore, what rhythm is the Lord leading you to adopt instead of trying to balance something that causes more struggle? There may be some things in your life that you are holding onto that are energy drainers, and the Holy Spirit might ask you to give them up for a season or longer. I used to love watching college football all day Saturday. It was my time and I loved it, until one day the Lord showed me that I was missing life with my family. I still enjoy football, but now I enjoy my family more, along with other things that are more productive and not just energy drainers.

Where to start finding your rhythm in Christ? John 15:1-17 gives a great start. Abide in Him! Choose to stay connected to the Vine every day. Change your mindset so He is not the top of your to-do list, but the very center of your life that everything else ebbs and flows from. This is where the rest is found. As you do that, you will begin to produce real, lasting fruit. No one wants to work and invest and get nothing out of it. That’s the definition of insanity, by the way.

Simple, I know, but it’s not easy. The world and the flesh want to earn what only abiding in the Vine will produce. You will daily have to choose to abide in Him, but it will bring true peace to the chaos of life.

This is one of the reasons why Exago Coaching is beneficial. It’s a process that brings someone into your life that will help you navigate time management, but even beyond that, help you find your rhythms of life led by God so that you can survive and thrive in ministry.

​Virgil Lee is an Exago Coach and has been in vocational ministry since 2003. He loves engaging people to discover their passions and callings for Christ, equipping them and empowering them to make Jesus famous in their unique spheres of influence. Virgil is married to Cami Lee since 2002 and has two amazing kids- Ayden and Meygan. His degree is in History and he is ordained. Virgil has been working with Exago since 2019. He enjoys drinking coffee, talking theology, and spending time with friends and family making lasting memories. 

---