Have you ever thought that you need some “balance” in your life? Does your personal schedule get so crazy between family, work, school, church and other responsibilities that you don’t know how to handle it any longer? Do you feel like the acrobat trying to keep a dozen plates spinning on top of tall sticks while he runs back and forth constantly so none of the platses fall to the ground?
If we’re honest, we’ve all felt that way at some time in our lives. Maybe you’re feeling that now. So, what do we do? How in the world do find balance again? The answer is right in front of us – God and His Word. The closer we get to God through private worship and Bible study, the closer we get to real balance in our life. Here’s why –
God is balanced! He created a world in balance. God provided the exact amounts of light, heat, food, moisture and air to sustain an amazing variety of living species on earth.The Creation event in Genesis is a classic primer in balance.
It’s obvious to everyone that life on earth is now out of balance. Paul wrote:
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:19-23
Why the pain, the groaning, the need for redemption? Sin! Sin entered the universe through Adam and threw everything out of balance. Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. They heard God walking in the garden and they hid from Him among the trees in the garden. God found Adam and asked him what he had done. Adam blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Adam and Eve, who began life as immortals, began to die. Eve, and all women since Eve, experienced increased pain in childbirth. The earth produced thorns and thistles and brought pain to Adam and all others who farmed the land for food. Disease and disaster ravaged the world. People experienced sadness, depression, anger, jealousy, bitterness and pride. They committed murder and suicide. People stole from one another, lied to each other, and used and abused others for their own selfish ends.
We members of this planet and universe are out of balance. We don’t have the ability or the understanding to return life to balance. The human race is “dead” in transgressions and sins. People are trapped in a river of sin and can do nothing but follow the torrent wherever it takes them.
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”Ephesians 2:1-3
So, how does the human race return to balance? Can we do something to earn or deserve balance? No! It is something that comes only from the Heart of God.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Ephesians 2:4-5
God offers every person alive today a special gift: the gift of eternal life. He offers us salvation from our sins. He offers us Balance. God knows the terrible condition of the human heart. He knows we cannot find balance on our own. He knows that we need Him desperately. God comes to our rescue “because of His great love for us.” God loves you and me with all His Heart. God wants us to return to a relationship He once had with our earliest ancestors. He wants us to be fulfilled. He wants us to have hope and joy. God wants to shower us with spiritual blessings. He wants to save us. He does that “by grace through faith.” It is a matter of our having faith in Christ that God will save us from our sin and pain. God stands ready to save anyone who comes to Him in faith.
“… and raised us up together, and madeus sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:6-9
Salvation is the beginning for us, not the end, of our return to balance. Jesus rescued us from the raging river of sin and set our souls on dry ground. We’re saved and headed for heaven!
Heaven is where God will give us complete Balance. Heaven is where God completes our redemption. Heaven is where we will spend eternity, not with our dying bodies and brains, but with new bodies and new minds.
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”1 Corinthians 15:50-53
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive andremain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
Our lives in heaven will be wonderful! We will be everything we’ve ever dreamed of being. We will do everything we’ve ever wished we could do. We will be perfect in every way because we will be like Christ … we will have our Balance.
If we have to wait until we get to heaven to return to balance, why do anything now? Why not just wait? Because we are on the road to balance. It began the moment Christ saved us. He lives “in” us and gives us balance. Every moment since He saved us has been an opportunity to step in the direction of a balanced life, the Life of Christ.
Paul was passionate about using everything at his disposal to return to balance in his life. He did not trust his own strength or human abilities. Paul looked to Christ to complete him.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3:3-15
Paul knew God would return him to Perfect Balance in heaven. Paul knew that was why God was calling him heavenward. But Paul also knew his life on earth was part of the journey toward balance. Paul understood the prize. He knew the goal. He lived his life for that goal. He put the past behind and strained toward what was ahead.
Paul wanted the same for all Christians. He prayed this for the Ephesians.
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”Ephesians 3:14-21
Look at what Paul wanted for fellow Christians: that Christ would dwell (settle down and feel at home) in their hearts through faith – that being rooted and grounded in love, they would be able to comprehend with all saints the width, length, depth and height of Christ’s Love for them – that they would be filled with all the fullness of God.” These are powerful things for a Christian and God wants us to experience them during this lifetime!
We come closer to Balance as we come closer to the love of God. Love of self led the human race away from God. The Love of God will lead us back. It is in Christ that we find our balance for living, for dealing with all the craziness. It is during quiet times of personal worship – prayer and Bible reading and study – that we regain what has been lost during hectic days and weeks. Personal time with God is the spiritual equivalent of physical nourishment and rest. We need the quiet rebuilding of our spiritual batteries and the feeding of our soul. That’s what happens during our personal time with God. He strengthens and encourages our hearts and minds – He gives us balance in a world that is turned upside down and inside out.
I pray for you a rich and wonderful week filled with all of God’s blessings.
In Christ’s Love and Grace,
Mark McGee
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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