Balancing Act

Be sober, be vigilant (Be well balanced – Amplified Bible); because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. – 1 Peter 5:8 NKJV. 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. – 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV. 

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7 Amplified Bible. 

Cui Juguo has a skill that is unique, he can balance eggs on the point of needles. Cui says, “Ostrich eggs are the largest in the world, and I can balance them on a pin. No one else could do this. I set a Guinness World Record on August 19, 2011, and I am still the record holder.” Cui is able to balance several eggs on needles in only about ten seconds. He developed his skill while trying to stay awake while he was a truck driver. When he became sleepy he would stop for a while and balance eggs. Cui says, “I would often take several eggs with me on the road. Once I felt sleepy, I would pull over and start to stand the egg on the needle point.” Juguo is from Changsha in China‘s Hunan Province. (ecns.cn 11.09.11) 

Living the Christian life in an increasingly immoral world can feel at times like we are attempting to balance eggs on the tip of a needle. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all trying to pull us off of a tiny needle tip we are balanced on while the Holy Spirit living within us is trying to keep us from falling off. Those forces can counteract each other, but if we fail to make right decisions our lives can become out of balance. 

What kind of decisions can we make that would cause our lives to become out of balance? We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Sometimes we choose not to find a way of escape from temptation.  

In Galatians 5:25 we are told, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” If we are walking in the Spirit then the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)” will be demonstrated in our lives. However, sometimes we choose not to walk in the Spirit and instead walk in the flesh and the result is, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like (Galatians 5:19b-21).” 

What do we need to do keep from going out of balance by making bad spiritual decisions? What we need is more of God, more of the presence of the Holy Spirit manifested in our lives. Jesus says this in John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” How do we have more of God? James 4:7-8 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Draw near to God by reading, studying, memorizing His Word (Matthew 4:4). Draw near to God by spending time in communication with Him (Luke 18:1). Draw near to God by assembling with other believers (Hebrews 10:24-25). Draw near to God by joining Him in His work (1 Corinthians 3:9; Matthew 28:19-29; 2 Corinthians 5:20).  

You can have spiritual power and love, along with a sober, and vigilant mind…spiritual balance. You can live the Christian life, but you cannot live it without God which is what far too many Christians are trying to do.

(We can live the Christian life, but not without God.)