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New Balance
Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven:
1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion [disorder], but of peace…
Proverbs 28:2
…by a man of understanding and knowledge the state [balance]
thereof shall be prolonged.
GOD WANTS US TO LIVE BALANCED LIVES
The entire world is based on this principle
of balance. The world of nature is perfectly balanced. The earth is tilted
at a certain angle and rotates at a certain number of miles per hour without
any vibration. If the world were a little bit closer to the sun we would
burn up and if it were a few miles further away from the sun we would freeze
to death. The only global warming to worry about is when fire and brimstone
again fall from the sky! Until then, the world is in balance.
In nature, the ecologists study the
ecosystems where the food chain and the checks and balances in nature take
care of each other. And speaking of checks and balances…there’s financial
balance we are in need of.
In your body, doctors say that when you get
sick, it is an imbalance in your body. Health comes when your body is
restored to balance. The red and white corpuscles are balanced and your
hormones are balanced…ok, sometimes they aren’t!
All through your life, in everything we try
to juggle, it all focuses toward equilibrium -- the principle of balance.
And God wants our personal lives to be balanced.
There is a problem that I see all the time
in people I counsel. Probably the most common problem I encounter is this
problem of imbalance. Imbalance is a disease that has many different
symptoms, but the root is the same. You can be imbalanced in anything.
Sleeping? Yes. Eating? Yes. Work? Yes. Play? Yes. Everything. You
can be imbalanced in the way you use your time, in hobbies, in anything.
The problem is that most of us have a tendency to work on our public lives
and let our private lives slide. We work on how we look and how we smile
and how we talk, but people don't see your private life, so you sometimes
let that slide.
People's lives are like poor photographs:
over-exposed and underdeveloped. I think that's true. A lot of lives are
overexposed. Everybody sees us and knows us and we have contacts with a lot
of people, but our private lives are underdeveloped.
Problems when your personal life is not
balanced. Two things happen:
1. Frustration
Last summer at the library we took the kids
to see a juggler, and he had those poles to balance dishes on. He'd start
spinning the dish ntil it was perfectly twirling and balanced. Then he
would take another pole and dish and start that. Then another and another.
The problem was, that about the time he got down to number nine, number one
started to fall off. So he'd run back real quick and get that one going...
then he'd run back and start another...
I thought, “A lot of people live their lives
that way”. They go from this to that. They work on this area of their life
a little bit and then they stop and work on that area of their life a little
bit. Then another area. It's frustrating. Just about the time you get one
thing in balance, the other one starts to fall off. Can I get a witness?
Frustration is a result of imbalance in your
personal life.
2. Fatigue
You get tired when your life is out of
balance. Anybody who's ever bought a car or a new set of tires knows that
when you buy new tires, you need to get them balanced. If the tires on your
car are not balanced, you're going to have a bumpy ride. There are going to
be vibrations. The car doesn't handle the shocks and bumps so well.
That's what happens in your own life. If
you get an imbalanced tire, eventually it will rub in the wrong place. You
get a a bald spot [some of you guys have unbalanced heads, evidently!] and
it will blow out. Likewise in your life, you will get rubbed the wrong way
and eventually have a big blow out. Tires blow out but people
burn out because of imbalance. Just like a tire that is out of balance
wears the wrong way, when your life is imbalanced you wear out much
quicker. You get tired.
What does the Bible have to say about being
balanced? Does it have anything to say? Yes!
Luke 2:52 we see an example of Jesus
Christ. Jesus was the most perfectly balanced person. "And Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." Jesus
Christ grew in these areas. He grew in wisdom. That means He grew
intellectually. He grew in stature. That means He grew physically. He
grew in favor with God. That means He developed spiritually. He grew in
favor with man. That means He developed socially. He was a perfect picture
of balanced humanity.
There are five areas of your personal life
that you need to keep in balance. We're going to talk about you, your own
personal life, because if it gets out of balance, it affects everything
else.
1. We Need To Have Mental Balance.
Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
Or, "Don't let the world squeeze you in
its mold.”
What are you transformed by? Your
willpower? No. By working real hard? No. "...by the renewing of your
mind." What you think about affects your life and you need mental
balance. The Bible says "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
We need balance.
How do you have balance? You balance it by
screening the things that come into your mind. You just don't allow
anything to come into your thought life indiscriminately. You maintain
balance by choosing what you're going to think about. Jesus said, "When
you know the truth, the truth will set you free." When you fill your
mind with truth, you will find freedom in your lifestyle. Freedom comes by
having the right kind of thoughts. True thoughts. Mental balance.
2. We Need To Have Physical Balance.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? 20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's.
Do you glorify God in your body? We need
physical balance. When we don't take care of our bodies, it affects
everything else. You have to ask yourself: Am I constantly complaining
about being tired? "I'm so tired...I'm sick and tired of being sick and
tired." There's a way out. You maintain physical balance.
Peanuts Cartoon:
Lucy is playing baseball. She's running out into the outfield and saying,
"I've got it! I've got it!" and the ball flies over her head and plunks
down right behind her. She's standing there with her hand open. She throws
the ball back to Charlie Brown who's standing on the mound and says, "Sorry
about that, manager. My body just doesn't seem to want to do what my brain
tells it to." Charlie Brown says, "I can understand that--my body and my
brain haven't spoken to each other in years."
Physical balance. Get your life in shape.
Get it all together.
Some of you say, "I could never get in
shape. I'm too old. You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I say, it's
never too late to change!
Article by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the man
who invented aerobics: He tells
the story of a lady who was 46 years old and came to him. She had back pains
that were so terrible that she could not walk further than 75 feet without
having to sit down. She was stooped over and couldn't stand up. As a
result, it killed all of her social life, all of her outings. She was in
constant pain and disability. When she came to Dr. Cooper, he advised that
she have back surgery but she said, no, she wanted to try something else.
She began to walk on a treadmill. She found that when she put the treadmill
at a certain angle she could walk without being in pain for about 25
seconds. So she began to walk on the treadmill several times a day. Soon
she found she could lower the treadmill more and more until finally she was
walking on a flat surface without any pain for the first time in months.
Next she started to do some slow jogging with her walking routine.
Eventually she began jogging continuously from 3 miles to 5 miles to 10
miles at each outing. Today, this old woman has run 9 marathons with her
best time being 3 hours and 3 minutes, a great time for any woman or man of
any age. You can change if you want to.
3. We Need To Have Spiritual Balance
That's part of your personal life. 2 Peter
3:18 says "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ." You do two things to grow as a Christian: You grow in
grace and you grow in knowledge of Jesus Christ. You have intellectual
growth -- you know about the content of the Bible. You also grow in grace --
that's cultivating an intimate relationship, and enjoying God.
A lot of people grow in knowledge. They
know about God. They know the books of the Bible. They've memorized
verses. They know who Nebuchadnezzar is. They know that an epistle is not
the wife of an apostle. Noah’s wife was not Joan of Ark! They know facts,
but they don't grow in grace. You've got to have balance in your spiritual
life.
4. We Need To Have Emotional Balance
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law.
Here we have a picture of a perfect
emotionally balanced person. These nine qualities are the qualities of
emotional stability. When you're emotionally stable you're not blown away
by a crisis.
It's a picture of Jesus. Jesus was love,
joy, peace, patience... all those things wrapped up into one.
Are you an emotionally balanced person? Do
you have a tendency to worry constantly? Are you a moody person? Do you
let your moods go up and down? Are you mastered by your moods rather than
managing your moods? Do you get depressed?
I think emotional balance is a combination
of confidence and contentment. You're confident and contented and you are
emotionally stable in your life.
5. We Need To Have Social Balance.
I'm talking about your relationships. You
can have everything right in your life and if your relationships are lousy,
well…life stinks. You can be a millionaire, you can be popular, you can be
well known and successful, but if you've got people that you're at odds
with, life is tough. So you need social balance in your life.
Romans 12:16
Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but
condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Or, "Live in harmony with one another."
I looked up the word "balance" in Webster's dictionary. It says the
definition is this, "When all of the parts are in harmony." When all of
your relationships are in harmony, there is social balance.
I can't impress on you enough the importance
of this balance.
Article from Readers' Digest called
"Seven Secrets of Peak Performance":
Dr. Charles Garfield is the professor of the University of California
Medical School in San Francisco. He's the head of a research institute
called Peak Performance Center. They studied 1500 outstanding achievers in
all walks of life -- business, athletics, education, every area of life.
They were looking for common denominators. What is it that makes the
difference between a person who's a super success and another person who
tries their best but they just get mediocre results? What's the
difference? Are there any characteristics, or common denominators of peak
performance people?
Yes, there are seven of them. The number
one characteristic of the top achievers in the world is that they lead a
well-rounded life. They're balanced. High achievers, we often hear, are
extremists. They spend all their time on one thing. Garfield says that's a
misconception. High performers, in contrast, are willing to work hard but
within strict limits. For them, work is not everything. When Garfield
interviewed top executives in ten major industries he found that they knew
how to relax, they could leave their work at the office, they prized close
friends and family life, and they spent a healthy amount of time with their
children and intimates. They were balanced.
Another article from June, 1985 issue of
Success magazine:
A doctor, for the past 26 years, studied
5000 professional men and women. Since 1959, he interviewed these 5000
people at least twice a year. He's written two books -- one about men and
the other about women. He talks about how women who sacrificed their
personal life for a career are imbalanced.
The interviewer asks, "You say that
ambitious women have been sold a bill of goods? How?"
His Answer: "They have been told
that life is a choice between a career and a satisfying personal life, but
my study over 26 years found that to be hogwash. The woman who pours
herself into her career and shelves her personal life eventually suffers in
her career."
The whole article talks about this
principle of balance. At the end the interviewer says, "Basically what
you're saying is that anytime, any one part of your life becomes all
important, everything, including that part, crumbles."
Answer: "That's an astonishing find
in its own way because ever since we were children we've been told to
concentrate single-mindedly and to keep ourselves focused."
Balanced living. Balance in your personal
life.
How do you get started? Here’s three
suggestions out of the Word of God on how to get started:
Proverbs 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of
fools is deceit.
Proverbs 14:15
The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to
his going.
Wise people think about where they're
headed. They give thought to their ways. They consider where they're
going. Fools deceive themselves.
How do you get started in balancing your
life?
STEP #1: Take Inventory
Look at your life. Say, "Where am I in
balance? Where am I out of balance?" Look at yourself. Evaluate it. Do a
self-examination. Have a spiritual, mental, emotional, social, physical
check-up and evaluate your lifestyle. Proverbs is saying it's wise to
analyze. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
How do you avoid coming to the end of your
life saying, "If only..." Do it by stopping in the middle of life and
analyzing it, looking at it, evaluating and saying, "Where am I out of
balance? What's missing?"
Do you remember the story of the prodigal
son in Luke 15? The prodigal son went out and spent all of his money, had a
good time with wine, women and song, but he ran out of his inheritance and
ends up living in a pigsty eating pig food. In Luke 15:17 there's the
turning point in his life. It says this: "He came to himself." He
said, "What am I doing here? I'm going to go home."
Have you done that? Have you come to your
senses? Have you said, "I'm not going to waste the rest of my life? I'm
going to make it count. I'm going to get my life in balance." This is the
season to get in balance -- socially, mentally, physically, spiritually,
emotionally -- all of these areas. I challenge you, as homework this week,
go home and do a personal check-up from the neck up, and down!
Ask yourself: "Mental balance. Am I
mentally sharper than I was five years ago? If not, why not? What am I
going to do about it?" I know a lot of Christians who are mentally flabby.
They turn on the TV, put their mind in neutral and watch the boob tube.
Leaders are readers!
How about physical balance? "Am I always
complaining of a lack of energy?" Am I always fatigued? Do I pay no regard
to what I eat or how I exercise or how much sleep I get. Do I disregard my
physical condition totally. Am I going to do anything about it? Am I a
workaholic or do I take time off for physical restoration?
How about spiritual balance? Is my
first reaction to a problem to pray, or do I usually use that as a last
resort? Do I take time for God? Do I trust Him? Do I really know Him? Do
I read the Bible on a regular basis? Am I a “duty” Christian, still just
Sunday morning only? Am I choosing to grow spiritually?
Emotional. Do I worry a lot? Am I
a moody person? Am I mastered by my moods? Do I loose my temper at the
slightest little thing? Am I irritable? Do I get depressed easily?
Social balance. Who can I count on
as a genuine friend? Who can count on me as a genuine friend? Proverbs says
to have friends you must show yourself friendly!
I encourage you to ask your mate to evaluate
you, or your s.s. teacher or Pastor. Now we're getting serious! The fact
is, all of us have blind spots. I think I'm in balance. You think you're
in balance. We all do. But other people say, "That guy is imbalanced!"
The Bible says there is safety and wisdom in
a multitude of counselors. So when in doubt, check it out. Ask your spouse
how you're doing -- emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally. Get a
second opinion.
STEP #2 Write Down A Plan Of Action
We plan every other area of our lives except
our personal life. Balance does not come by accident. You've got to work at
it. It's not automatic. You plan and set goals and say specifically what
you're going to do.
Ephesians 5:15
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Don't be foolish in the way you use your
time. Be careful. Analyze it. "Make the most of every opportunity."
How do you make the most of every opportunity? By planning for it. By
preparing for it. When opportunity comes, you're ready for it. You develop
a plan of action. Don’t just prioritize your schedule—SCHEDULE your
priorities! Write down the plan of action.
One of the things that make balance in your
life is habits. We are creatures of habit. We need to break bad habits,
start new ones, because that's part of getting in balance -- getting rid of
the bad habits and developing new ones.
But you can't do it on your own. Will power
is not enough. You need more.
STEP #3 Establish Christ At The Center
Of Your Life
Ill.—Wheel, spokes, and hub.
Don’t compartmentalize your spiritual life.
Don’t take this lesson on balance and try to use it to rationalize God being
in balance, or just having a measure of Him.
Just like a wheel has to have a hub, your
life has to have something to center on. You will always be out of balance
until you get something -- one thing -- that your life centers on. You can
center it on making money, but that will get you out of balance. You can
center it on retiring and recreation, but that will get you out of balance.
In a wheel, all the power comes through at
the point of the hub and then it's distributed out to the differing spokes
that turn the wheel. Likewise, in your life, when you put Christ in the
center of your life, the power comes through that and goes out to all of
these other areas and gives you balance. That's why the Bible says,
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness..." and all of
these things will be brought into focus, into balance.
Sometimes I hear someone say, "I have a
problem. My life is falling apart." How do you put a life that is falling
apart back together? What holds it together? I asked the person, "Would
you like to know the glue that would put your life together?"
Colossians 1:15
Who is the image of the invisible God…
You don't see God. That's why He sent Jesus
so you could see Him.
Colossians 1:16-17
16 For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and
by him all things consist. [glue!]
If your life is falling apart, it's because
Jesus Christ is not at the center to hold all things together. Put Him at
the center and watch Him pull it back together. Think about an atom with a
nucleus of protons and neutrons swirling around and on the outside electrons
swirling around it. What holds the atom together? Jesus Christ. He holds
all things together in the world and in your life. Bring Him any broken
pieces in your life and see how He can miraculously put it all together!
The bottom line in finding balance--Jesus
Christ wants to be the center of your life. You can start over, you can
have a new beginning, you can have a clean slate and get your personal life
in balance.
[outline and some source materials courtesy Rick Warren]
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