--- id: 20190601_work_life_balance title: BLOG - Work Life Balance category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: work-idolatry-to-faith-family-balance sentiment: Convictional emotions: - Reflective - Corrective - Hopeful keypoints: - American workers average long weeks; early-career Dean scored success by bank balance - Family desire for his presence exposed work-as-priority as a wrong direction - Proverbs 23:4–5 warns against toiling to acquire wealth that sprouts wings - Faith and family are the investments that pay lasting dividends - Ecclesiastes 3:1 frames seasons — including time with God — as the path to true balance summary: > Dean Rush confronts American overwork and his own early habit of justifying long hours by income. Citing Proverbs 23:4–5 and Ecclesiastes 3:1, he argues that monetary scorecards are fleeting and that true work-life balance requires ordered investment in faith, family, and Christlike example at work. tags: - blog - policy - work-life-balance - family - wealth - proverbs-23 - ecclesiastes-3 - workplace-witness - priorities - dean-rush sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 8 entropy: 3 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: blog created: '2019-06-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: BLOG prefix: BLOG enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: BLOG_2019-06-01_work-life-balance.md source_kind: blog_article proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2019-06-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/work-life-balance source_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/work-life-balance site_category: Policy archive_month: 2019-06 description: > Dean rejects bank-balance scorecards for overwork, citing Proverbs 23 and Ecclesiastes 3, and calls leaders to balance faith, family, and work so Christ can be seen in the workplace. --- # Work Life Balance **Author:** Dean Rush **Original post:** [deanrush.net/blog/work-life-balance](https://deanrush.net/blog/work-life-balance) **Archive month:** June 2019 · **Site category:** Policy > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's article** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned of HTML/image artifacts only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean names a workplace wound — justifying endless hours by income — and answers with Scriptures he already quotes: do not toil to acquire fleeting wealth (Proverbs 23:4–5) and honor every season under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The enrichment below does not replace his testimony; it shows the wider biblical frame for work, rest, family, and witness. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Wealth as ultimate scorecard fails | Do not toil to acquire wealth (Proverbs 23:4–5); you cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24) | | Family presence is part of faithfulness | Manage household well (1 Timothy 3:4–5); fathers, do not provoke children (Ephesians 6:4) | | Work itself is good but not god | Work as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23–24); six days labor, sabbath rhythm (Exodus 20:8–11) | | Seasons and balance come from God | A time for every purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1); trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6) | --- ## Dean's article ### Work Life Balance ![Coins image from Dean's original post](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/10/31/08/50/coins-1015125_960_720.jpg) Workers in America spend an average of 47 hours per week in the workplace. That average includes the nearly 20% who spend 20 or fewer hours ( Barna 2013). If you take those individuals out of the equation we, as American workers, are in the office an average of more than 51 hours per week. If you would have asked me in my early years of my career why I was spending so much time in the workplace the answer would have been simple. I would have told you I was spending that time to have a good income for my family. The time at the office was justifiable by looking at the wealth it would bring to my family. The scorecard was the bank account balance. > **Scholar sidebar — When provision becomes idol** > Providing for one's household is required (1 Timothy 5:8). Dean's early motive was not evil; it became distorted when the bank balance became the scorecard and hours displaced presence. Matthew 6:19–21 relocates treasure; Luke 12:15 warns that life does not consist in possessions. The pastoral distinction enrichment needs: Scripture honors diligent work (Proverbs 14:23) and rebukes *toiling to acquire wealth* as ultimate aim (Proverbs 23:4–5) — exactly Dean's later repentance. ### A level Playing field Was that a valid ideology? At the time it was a simple, yes, that is what we are supposed to do. It was when I discovered my family wanted me to see the importance of spending time with them that I realized I was headed in the wrong direction. I was also trying to set a "Christian" example for our employees. When I demanded they make work the priority I was, in fact, taking God out of the equation and showing my search for monetary reward over family. I didn't pay attention to the instructions in the bible about money: *"Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven" (Proverbs 23: 4-5, English Standard Version).* If you examine that verse carefully you will see that the monetary score card we often use to justify the hours at work is fleeting. The verse says *"Do not toil for wealth…"*.It could not be more direct in stating that we are following a dead-end path. The money is going to fly away and be gone. It is what remains in our lives that should be made the investment. For many years I have been told that there are only two investments that always pay dividends that are worth spending. The investments that count are **faith and family**. As I matured, I realized the validity that statement. It is the balance between family, faith, and work that is important. > **Scholar sidebar — Proverbs 23:4–5 and false Christian example** > Dean's sharpest confession is vocational: demanding work-as-priority from employees while claiming Christian example "took God out of the equation." Proverbs 23:4–5 pairs refusal to exhaust oneself for riches with discernment to *stop*. Wealth that sprouts wings mocks the scorecard. Parallel texts include Proverbs 15:16–17 (little with fear of the Lord beats treasure with trouble) and Mark 8:36 (gaining the world, forfeiting the soul). Faith and family as "investments" echoes Matthew 6:33 — seek first the kingdom — without denying Colossians 3:23's call to work heartily as for the Lord. ### Determine Your Priorities Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, *"For everything you gain you lose something and everything you lose you gain something.* It is a lesson to take to the office and, especially when you have responsibility over others. Set and example in your own life that can be duplicated by your peers in the office. God give us direction for life and especially for all of us who have believed that work will get you satisfaction. He also gives us the gift of family. It is that stability by balancing those factors of our lives that can bring true happiness. When we have balance, we can also provide an example to our peers in the workplace. People see satisfaction in others. If we are going to take Christ into the workplace we must take Him in with us first before we can display His involvement in our own lives to others. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says it best, *"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven*" (MEV). There is a time and a place for all the things we must get done in our lives. There is a time for work. There is a time for recreation. There is a time for self-love. But most importantly, there is a time to spend quality time with God so that we may not lose sight of the balance that we so desperately need in our day to day lives. We must lean and trust in Him if we want to achieve true work-life balance. It is also essential to spend time with our families to realize the fulfillment God provides as an objective for each of us. Before we can take the satisfaction of knowing Christ to our fellow workers, we must show the needed balance in our own lives. > **Scholar sidebar — Ecclesiastes 3:1 and workplace witness** > Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 catalogs times under heaven — including planting, weeping, laughing, and silence — refusing a life of only one gear. Dean applies that calendar to work, recreation, self-care, family, and especially time with God. His sequence for witness matters: *take Christ in with you first* before displaying Him — matching Jesus' tree-and-fruit logic (Matthew 7:17–20) and Paul's "imitate me as I imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Leaders who load others with work-idolatry while naming Christ preach with their schedules louder than their slogans (cf. Matthew 23:3–4). --- ## Takeaways 1. **Long hours need a better scorecard.** American averages and Dean's early career both show how income justifies overwork. 2. **Family desire exposed the lie.** Presence mattered more than the bank balance he thought was for them. 3. **Proverbs 23:4–5 kills wealth-toil.** Money sprouts wings; toiling to acquire it is a dead-end path. 4. **Faith and family are lasting investments.** Balance among family, faith, and work — not work alone — is the mature aim. 5. **Witness starts with embodied balance.** Take Christ into the workplace in your own ordered life before you advertise Him to peers. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? Stop treating the bank account as proof that endless work is love; invest in faith and family, trust God's seasons, and let a balanced life be your workplace witness. ### Why Proverbs 23 and Ecclesiastes 3? Proverbs 23:4–5 directly rebukes exhausting yourself for wealth that vanishes. Ecclesiastes 3:1 restores a calendar with more than office time — including time with God — which Dean says is essential to real balance. ### Key verses to read with this post - **Proverbs 23:4–5** — Do not toil to acquire wealth; it sprouts wings. - **Ecclesiastes 3:1** — A time for every purpose under heaven. - **Matthew 6:24, 33** — Serve God, not money; seek first the kingdom. - **Colossians 3:23–24** — Work as unto the Lord. - **1 Timothy 5:8** — Provide for your household (without making provision an idol). - **Ephesians 6:4** — Fathers, nurture without provocation. - **Exodus 20:8–11** — Work and sabbath rhythm. - **Proverbs 3:5–6** — Trust the Lord for straight paths. ### A simple practice For one week: (1) pick one evening or block and protect it for family or undistracted presence, (2) read Proverbs 23:4–5 before checking work email after hours, (3) ask whether your "Christian example" at work currently looks like balance or like baptized overwork. ### How this feeds Ask Dean Seed material for questions such as: *How does Dean define work-life balance? What does Proverbs 23 say about wealth? How do I take Christ into the workplace?* Keep Dean's confession and cited verses primary; use scholar notes only as supporting biblical scaffolding.