I wonder what you first think of when you hear the word\n\u201cbalance.\u201d I am guessing it depends on\nyour context. A different image might come to mind if you are in chemistry\nclass, or driving on the highway and your steering wheel is shaking, or you are\npaying bills, or maybe you are scrambling to meet a deadline at work and\nwishing you could be at your child\u2019s baseball game. Have you ever done yoga?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, you probably can guess that, in this letter, I won\u2019t be talking about weighing compounds in a lab or balancing your tires to smooth your ride. Or yoga. But that struggle I have had at times, to abandon my work and be with my family\u2026 that is something that is relevant here. I will go out on a limb here and suggest that we all desire a balance in life<\/strong>. I think it is interesting that the word balance comes from the Latin word \u201cbilanx\u201d: \u201cbi\u201d (two) and \u201clanx\u201d (plates) yet in our modern desire for \u201clife balance\u201d we would need a lot more than two plates! Picture a circle of plates all connected by spokes. At the center where the spokes meet, the wheel of plates is resting on a pole. Even with the plates empty, you can imagine this being hard to balance. Now start loading on the things in life that need balance: God, family, work, fun, diet, exercise, sleep\u2026 Put too much of one thing and the whole thing crashes<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/em>Let your moderation\nbe known unto all men. The Lord is\nat hand. <\/em>(Philippians 4:5)\n(KJV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wait, did I start that list with \u201cGod?\u201d Does God have a\nplace on the balance of life? Can there\nbe too much of Him? Is He capable of \u201ctipping the scales\u201d \u2013 and if so, wouldn\u2019t\nthat be a good thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, that\u2019s what we will explore here\u2026 I\u2019ll put a barely\nadequate summary statement here, in case you need to bail out of reading this\nearly. Your efforts to balance life is a\nwaste of time, like striving after the wind. Don\u2019t even try.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “But seek first His kingdom<\/strong> and His righteousness, and all these things\nwill be added to you. <\/em>(Matthew 6:33)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, I asked a trick question, didn\u2019t I? Did you catch it? Is God capable of tipping the scales and crashing our \u201cmulti-plate\u201d balance? That depends\u2026 What do you mean by \u201cGod?\u201d Surely you and I both rushed to say, \u201cNo way! One can never have too much God!\u201d This is true, but one could physically study the Bible too much, or focus on prophecy and current events too much, or stand on the street with a sign warning of the end of the world… too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You therefore, beloved, knowing\nthis beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error\nof unprincipled men and fall from your\nown steadfastness<\/strong>, <\/em>(2 Peter 3:17)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201cunprincipled man\u201d whose error \u201ccarries me away\u201d\ncausing my scale to crash, could very easily be me. But this is not a revelation.\nThis is not big news or a surprise to us. \nWe have heard our whole life long \u201ceverything in moderation.\u201d I think it is repeated so often because it is\nnot in our nature to self-moderate. We\nare creatures of excess and increase. Isn\u2019t that why our society measures success via economic growth<\/strong>? If it doesn\u2019t\ngrow, it isn\u2019t good, regardless of how much abundance we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have\nyou found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and\nvomit it. (Proverbs 25:16)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The following scripture is a balance that God created for us. But, according to all human logic it should easily topple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n God saw all that He had made, and\nbehold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the\nsixth day. <\/em>By the seventh day\nGod completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from\nall His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified\nit, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. <\/em>(Genesis 1:31 thru <\/em>2:2-3)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Six days on one side and one day on the other, and they\ncreate a perfect balance<\/strong>. Awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, let\u2019s go back to our life balance with many plates\u2026 God\nshould be on that list. He had better be, or there will be no possibility\nof balance. Messiah gave us an example of this when the sisters, Mary and\nMartha had Him over for lunch one day\u2026 Martha complained that Mary was not\npulling her weight with the serving duties and was instead sitting at the feet\nof our Savior, listening to His words<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Lord answered and said to\nher, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;\nbut only one thing is\nnecessary, for Mary has chosen the good\npart<\/strong>, which shall not be taken away from her.” <\/em>(Luke 10:41-42)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, here is one key\nto balance: Choose the good part<\/strong>. God most certainly has a place on that\nwheel of plates. Yes, balance the time you have for study, prayer, meditation\nwith the time you spend working, and loving your family, and having fun and\nexercising, etc\u2026 But, as I said above, one\ncan never have too much God<\/strong>! That is, God Himself. He will not tip the\nbalance, ever. God is Love. God is\nLight. Those things are infinite and boundless. \nThey do not tip the balance, they only stabilize it. Pile on the Love\nand your life gets more balanced. Pile on the Light and your life gets more\nbalanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\none who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nis the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light,\nand in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am thinking that God\u2019s Love and Light are like outriggers for your canoe<\/strong>. When the surf gets rough, a canoe is not<\/strong> the best vessel to be piloting. Outriggers make that task manageable and balanced. Consider that verse I quoted above, 2Peter3:17. We are striving to not fall from our steadfastness \u2013 does that sound like building your house on the solid rock compared to a foundation of sand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell\u2014and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Love defies gravity\nand provides stability in all things<\/strong>. This, of course, sounds metaphorical,\nbut there is a real, tangible, physical application to this statement that I\nthink we would do well to explore and employ every day in our lives. When you exhibit love toward others in your walk,\nnotice the peace that enters your conscience. \nNotice how life feels balanced when you experience this peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set\nyour mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians\n3:2) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace to you and glory to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Nate<\/p>\n\n\n\n www.paraklesis.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wonder what you first think of when you hear the word \u201cbalance.\u201d I am guessing it depends on your context. A different image might come to mind if you are in chemistry class, or driving on the highway and your steering wheel is shaking, or you are paying bills, or maybe you are scrambling … Continue reading “Balance”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}