The Balanced Life
\nCopyright by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
The word \u201cbalance\u201d is not always associated with the Christian walk. It does not appear in Scripture. Jesus and the apostles never used the word itself. But balance is implied throughout the Bible whenever it speaks to living the life God desires us to live.<\/p>\n
First, though, the word has to be defined. The most important part of this definition is to state what it is not and that is \u201cmoderation\u201d. Moderation, as we normally use it, refers to never doing too much or too little of some activity. Moderation is implicitly amoral. For instance it is a good word for a Christian to use when speaking of doing too much or too little exercise because exercise, in and of itself, is not immoral. The problem comes when you try to apply the term to something like sexual liaisons out of wedlock. We are not to indulge in a moderate amount of such activity; we are to avoid it altogether. In the context of living the life of a disciple the best understanding of balance is the avoidance of extremes in areas that are not innately sinful for the purpose of properly enjoying the gifts of God.<\/p>\n
An example might be dealing with legalism or licentiousness in regards to our freedom in Christ. The Apostle Paul dealt with these extremes in many of his letters to the churches. Some persons in these churches expected \u201ctrue\u201d believers to hold to Jewish practices and restrictions like circumcision or not eating meat sacrificed to idols. In other churches the opposite extreme held sway. For instance all kinds of sexual sin was being committed in the 1st Century Gentile churches. This happened because some of the early non-Jewish Christians believed they were free to let their physical bodies be engaged in such activities because their spirit was separate from those bodies and would remain unsullied (this belief was a forerunner to the later heresy of Gnosticism). It was also often the result of simple ignorance of the sexual standards Jesus Himself upheld as normative for a holy people. Whether to one extreme or the other these wrong teachings and cases of ignorance in the churches were corrected by Paul and the other apostles.<\/p>\n
The need for such correction is an old story and today we face similar extremes in living out our faith. Some fundamentalists, for instance, tell us that anything that is not specifically\u00a0mentioned in the Bible should be anathema to the true believer. Some would go so far as to say that all art, music and film without a specifically Christian message are forbidden. In fact more radical fundamentalists even take that a step further telling us that the mediums themselves are evil; usually using some Old Testament verses taken out of context for justification. On the other extreme we see what might be called \u201cLoose Evangelicals\u201d, people who feel that they can watch or listen to almost anything without it negatively affecting their souls and their relationship with God. Here, too, is the need for Godly balance. Asceticism for the sake of asceticism is unprofitable. Undiscerning consumption of everything the World says is good is unprofitable as well.<\/p>\n
Perhaps we should seek to be as balanced as our Lord who fasted in the wilderness but, shortly thereafter, turned the water into wine at a wedding party. His Holy Spirit can keep us from going to unhealthy extremes if we ask Him to help us lead balanced lives. In Jesus we see a life lived in perfect balance yet with great passion. With the Spirit\u2019s help we can model ourselves after the One who truly knows the best way and come to experience the abundant life He has promised us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Balanced Life Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved The word \u201cbalance\u201d is not always associated with the Christian walk. It does not appear in Scripture. Jesus and the apostles never used the word itself. But balance is implied throughout the Bible whenever it speaks to living the life God desires us to live.… <\/p>\n