There are certain ideas bantered about so frequently and repeated with such sincerity that no one questions their accuracy.  One such idea is the issue of work/home balance.             

The idea is that there is a conflict between one’s work and one’s home life.  Particularly for entrepreneurs and business people, the issue is poignant and fraught with negative consequences.  For an entrepreneur, not a week goes by when he/she doesn’t feel guilty for choosing one side or the other.  You can easily spend more time in the business, and just as easily spend more time with the family.  Going home often means leaving something undone at the business. So, you are guilty and anxious about that.  Attending to the task at the business often means leaving something undone at home, or someone unattended to, and you feel guilty about that. For most entrepreneurs, then, most weeks are a lose/lose proposition.  No matter what you do, it causes negative consequences.             

Books have been written on the subject, and consultants have developed careers built around giving advice to those in the throes of the issue.  Clearly the issue has a lot of currency in our culture.

It is in these kinds of issues that some Biblical guidance is helpful.  What does the Bible say about work/home balance?           

Nothing.

It is a non-issue in the Bible.  I know this will upset lots of people, but when you look at the two sides in the equation -- family and business – you discover almost nothing about family, and quite a few examples and instructions about business.            

For example, we almost never see young children in the Bible. I am aware of only two appearances of a young child:The first occurs in the story of the adolescent Jesus, being lost for three days on his parent’s trip home from Jerusalem.  He was more likely an adolescent in this story than a young child.  Then, there is the incident of Jesus explaining to the disciples that one needed to be like a young child in order to enter into the kingdom of God.  There were young children present at that event.

There are no examples of family meals together, or parents spending ‘quality time’ with young children. In the Bible, there wasn’t a dichotomy between work and family: Folks didn’t bring their work home to the family, they brought the family into the business. 

When we see children, they are almost always teenagers or young adults, and almost always within the context of the family business...[Click Here To Read The Entire Article Online]