Steady

Balance

It has become a very common thing for problems and struggle in our lives to be attributed to a lack of balance. While this may sound logical, it is really the product of a dualistic mindset. Dualism is the idea that good and evil are equal and opposite forces that must be kept in a kind of optimum balance so that things can go well. 

You can see this kind of thinking in many of the ancient eastern religions and modern new age spiritual practices. Examples are ideas such as ‘karma’ which refers to the idea that what goes around comes around. But this is easily disproved by the many times when people received exactly what they did not deserve. Every time an innocent person is the victim of a crime or a guilty person escapes the justice system, karma has failed to maintain the balance.

Another example would be the idea of the yin and yang. This is the ancient Chinese concept of two opposing forces that are interconnected and counterbalancing. This should lead to peace, harmony, and tranquility. Something like this is also seen in pop culture references such as the pantheistic “force” referred to in the Stars Wars universe.

But is this concept true? Is this kind of symbiosis the reality that we see taught in the Bible? And is our struggle one of balance or faithfulness?

 Bible

The Bible is the source of true wisdom. Since this is the case we must consider what the Bible says about these and all other philosophies. In the conclusion of one of the most philosophical books of the Bible the Preacher of Ecclesiastes says that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Solomon seems unconcerned with keeping the balance and instead points his readers to a radical and zealous focus on reverent obedience to God.

A second portion of scripture that we should consider is the Law of God given to His covenant people Israel. At the very root of the law was the instruction that you should love God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul and ALL you might (Deuteronomy 6:4). The LORD does not seem to be concerned that we might over-emphasize loving Him. The Lord Jesus even referred to this when He was asked what is the greatest and first commandment (Matthew 22:34-40). Jesus also showed that we didn’t balance between our love for God and other things but total devotion and affection for God alone.

One final text to help us know where the Bible would have us to be on this issue of philosophical balance. In Jesus' most famous extended teaching, which we usually call the Sermon on the Mount, He gives us a lesson about how to live by faith using the example of the birds and the flowers (Matthew 6:25-34). In this text, Jesus is calling out the sin of anxiety, which is something that we commonly attribute to being an illness rather than an issue of faith and obedience. But Jesus points out that the birds and the flowers need not worry for God to provide for them as they go about being the buds and birds that God made them to be. Jesus sums up this teaching with the instruction for us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness for that is what God made us to do (Matthew 6:33). When we do that everything else will be taken care of. The point is that we must be fully committed to our citizenship in His kingdom (Philippians 3:20) and unsatisfied by anything but His righteousness (Matthew 5:6).

My point is simple. If we would like to live for our highest purpose and to fulfill what we were created for, then we should not be focused on balance, but rather on all out devotion to the Lord. Whatever our hand finds to do in service to the Lord we should do with all our might (Ecclesiastes 9:10)!

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