"Balance" is not a biblical word that you will find in your concordance but it is a good concept and surely taught in Scripture. Our lives and the church will get out of sorts if we do not maintain a good balance in both our thoughts and deeds.

Religion can especially become despicable in the eyes of both God and man if we become extremists. Balance is not an easy thing to find or maintain. It is a rare and much desired quality.

We should, perhaps, begin by saying what we do not mean by "balance." We do not mean: 1) a little sin and a little righteousness, 2) sometimes faithful; sometimes lukewarm, 3) part of the world in your heart; another part of God, 4) a good mixture of God’s wisdom and man’s, 5) redemption partly by grace and partly by human merit. By balance, I do not mean hesitation about faith in God. I believe we should be fully committed and convicted. One cannot partially die to self and the world! Either you have died to sin or not.

I believe that individually, in our homes and in the church we should strive for balance and avoid extremes. By "balance," we mean "both/and" rather than "either/or." Great churches that accomplish much for God and man understand this concept and practice it.

All of us know of the many matters that demand our attention. We seem to be pulled into so many directions at once. I have often wondered how we can do all these things! Think about all the choices before you everyday about how to spend your time and what you need to accomplish. Finding that proper balance is not an easy matter.

A Cuban mechanic in Cayman. One mistake that we often make as individuals is finding an area of life that we find more comfortable than the others and making it our place of refuge from all the other demands. I knew a father and his son in the Cayman Islands, Cubans, who were mechanics. They worked in the front yard of their house. I invited them to our services; the father’s reply was, We do not have time to do anything else but our work. They worked seven days a week in dirty, grimy, greasy clothes. He said to me, I would know even when the holidays come and go if they did not put up the decorations on the streets. His life was all out of balance. Work had become his entire life. There is, of course, nothing wrong with hard work. The problem was one of balance. He did not attend to other important areas of his life and that of his family.

To be successful. Success-oriented people have been taught a philosophy that is harmful. They are convinced that the way to be recognized in life and find success is to be single-minded about one pursuit. On NPR this past week, a woman was being criticized because she would not make it her full-time passion to train for the Olympics. She was also pursuing a demanding degree in college and had a child to raise. She believed that she could do all of these in proper balance and be successful. Her trainer disagreed. He wanted her to spend full-time on training; she refused. She wanted balance in life; they wanted her life to be about one thing.

One of the many problems with pursuing one thing in life is that you might be successful in that one area, but that means you will fail in all the other areas of life. Is it worth it to sacrifice your family on the altar of personal success? Will it be worth it in eternity? Some sacrifice their souls.

Seek first the kingdom. A person’s life is out of balance if any one thing dominates that person’s life, even though that one thing is good in its proper place. I do not believe that Christianity demands that we choose between our families and the kingdom, or between our needs and the church, or between ourselves and others. It is not "either/or" but "both/and." Let me explain. Jesus said, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33.) We create a false dilemma for ourselves if we think that putting the church first means that we must neglect the needs of our family. Christianity applies to the whole of one’s life. Putting the kingdom first means that you are a dedicated worker on your job, that you lead your family spiritually, that you are faithful in the activities of the church, that you are involved in wholesome recreational activities. Being a Christian applies to dating, marriage, school, business and church---to every area of life. It is a matter of balance. Being a Christian does not mean that you spend every hour of the day reading the Bible, or praying, or attending worship assemblies. It includes the whole of who you are and what you do.

Preaching on one topic. There are further dangers of getting things out of balance. It is good to preach the Gospel, but preachers also find to difficult to find that good balance. For example, Paul proclaimed the "whole counsel of God." Suppose a preacher decided that he was going to major in just one subject---like giving. He was going to find out all that the Bible teaches on it and he was going to champion this topic. Well, we need to know this subject, but there are many problems with majoring in any one biblical topic. 1) We need to the whole gospel. What about the resurrection from the dead, the death of Jesus, baptism. . . ? 2) If we chose only one subject, we most likely will take that subject out of context and become an extremist. One preacher who is now elderly and dying said that he paid his monthly bills and gave all the rest to the church. By implication, he was suggesting that we do the same. He did not save anything for the future. His brother, who was a banker, thought he was going mad! Now, he is old and without any money to provide for his needs. Friends, family and the church are having to take care of him. His problem was that he failed to find the proper balance.

Preachers neglecting their families. It is possible to be so involved in "church work" that you neglect other important areas. There are some preachers who have neglected balance in their work. Some travel the country and world preaching while their children grow up without a father. Must we sacrifice all else on the altar of preaching? To be "faithful" to God must I fail my family and deny the need for proper rest and recuperation? What are our sabbaticals? One preacher said that he was a "long-distance" runner, not a "short- distance sprinter." There is a difference between the two. One has balance; the other does not.

Brother Howard W. Norton, editor of Church & Family, Spring 2000, in "Balance: An Essential Component of a Great Church," page 32, wrote, "Even a church that lacks balance is frightening. My guess, though, is that most churches have extremists who threaten to undo their equilibrium."

A healthy, vibrant church is one that manages to find balance in what it emphasizes and how it works. However, that good place of balance is often elusive and hard to maintain. We must be able to see "the larger picture" and exercise vision. Balance means that the body is healthy and wholesome.

Afraid to do anything. One of the most extreme statements I think that I have ever heard came from a Christian woman. She was asked to teach the ladies’ Bible class. She was a long-time member and certainly capable of doing so. Her reply shocked me. She said, The Bible teaches that not many of you should be teachers, knowing that you shall receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1.) She added, I do not want to teach the class because of the danger of teaching something incorrectly. This woman suffers from being so far out of balance that she believes that it is better to not do anything for fear that she will be lost if she makes one mistake. This is extremism and legalism. It is a gross misunderstanding of the Gospel.

As shocking as her words are, I do not think that her feelings are so uncommon. Many share her fears and misgivings. Many are afraid to move, to act, to breathe, to enjoy the Gospel and God’s redemption. They have become paralyzed from a warped message that does not represent the Christ who saves us. But this is what legalism does to a believer. It robs you of joy and hope. It binds you to a way of life that is impractical and filled with hypocrisy. Under legalism, you have only one of two options. 1) Pretend that you are keeping all the rules faithfully and deny your failures. This person can live in sin and never see the conflict in his life. Or 2) Allow this approach to rob you of the joy of redemption and paralyze your involvement. Those who are more honest about their lives often will not know how to break the shackles of legalism. (By the way, legalism is a dependency upon law for salvation. It is Phariseeism and it frustrates the grace of God---Gal. 2:21.)

Liberalism, on the other hand, seeks to loosen all restrictions and commands. They free themselves from the responsibilities of faithfulness and obedience. Liberals depend more upon their intelligence and wisdom than the wisdom of God. They presume to challenge biblical writers saying, I’m going to ask him about this in heaven. This too is an extreme position which destroys the balance that is so badly needed in the life of a church. Both liberalism and legalism are deadly to a church or believer. Legalism destroys one’s joy and hope; liberalism gives a false hope based upon a faulty foundation.

Jesus’ righteousness and ours. The Bible certainly teaches that Jesus was obedient and righteous. Adam brought death through sin; Jesus brought righteousness and eternal life. Recently I received a small religious paper published by a church in our area. The title of the article was "Reigning Grace." The writer was discussing Romans 5:21--- "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." The writer made a terrible blunder in his effort to expound upon this verse. He said correctly that Adam brought death through his sin and disobedience. The law entered to emphasize sin and make it known. Therefore, law, sin, and death work and belong together.

But then Paul contrasted law-sin-death with what Jesus brought. With Jesus came eternal life through grace and righteousness. The writer then asked, What is righteousness? He answered, Keeping the commandments of God. So, he concluded that grace reigns through our righteousness unto eternal life! What a blunder. How untrue! Yet, many have been taught just this position. Paul said that grace reigned though the righteousness of Jesus Christ unto eternal life. If grace reigns through our righteousness, then what role does the righteousness of Jesus play? Does it have a part in our salvation? Paul said so. (Rom. 5:21---"by Jesus Christ our Lord.") Something is terribly out of balance when we think that our righteousness belongs in the equation---grace, righteousness and eternal life.

Christians living "soberly, righteously and godly in this present world" is surely a significant truth to preach and follow. (Titus 2:12.) The proper balance is Jesus’ righteousness first and foremost, then we seek to follow Him in that way of life. Redemption is possible because of what our Lord did, not because of our puny righteousness. Paul wrote that we are saved "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy." (Titus 3:5.) We need balance and the proper emphasis upon what the Lord has done and what we are called to become. Salvation does not originate with man, but with God.

Sound doctrine and loving fellowship. Norton wrote, "A great church develops balance between sound doctrine and loving fellowship. It calls for the moral integrity of its members and yet practices forgiveness when a saint falls. We can not be forever sniffing out minute "doctrinal error" and judging everyone’s soundness. Everyone needs to feel acceptance and love. There is a proper time and place to be reproved and rebuked. But we need edification and exhortation as well. We need to hear the balance between "the goodness and severity of God." (Rom. 11:22.)

The old and the new. In every generation, we face the matter of facing some new things which seek to replace the old. Type-writers have given way to computers and printers. A healthy church will know the difference between truth and tradition. We will not bind things that are simply a matter of custom and tradition upon the younger generation. If we bind our American customs as truth, we make laws where God did not. We bind where God loosens. It is just as wrong to make laws for God as it is to ignore the will of God.

Most people, psychologically and emotionally, cannot move too quickly replacing the old with the new (not truth, but methods and customs). We need a good balance when incorporating the new with the old. The restoration churches once had railings placed down the middle of their church buildings to separate the men and the women in the assembly. Slowly, they were removed. Now the whole family can sit together in worship.