Balance
The following are incidents portraying how Messiah moved between extremes while maintaining a balance of perspectives and actions. ——
John 3 — Speaking the hard truth in love #1
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
John 4 - Speaking the hard truth in love #2
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
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Matthew 9 - Actions taken due to proper perspective #1
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
John 2 - Actions taken due to proper perspective #2
13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. ——
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For those that know me fairly well, balance most likely wouldn’t be one of the first words that comes to mind to describe me. I want to think that I am balanced but, though I don’t like to admit it, I constantly swing back and forth between extremes and park in the realm of balance every now and then. It’s kind of like a broken clock is always right twice a day, I know that I’ll stroll through the land of balance at least once in a while.
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One of the first messages I preached at my church back in 1987 was entitled: Jesus Was The Most Balanced Person That Ever Lived. Depending upon what Christian circles you run in, “balance” is almost synonymous with heresy or compromise or being double-minded. I get that. That can be true but it doesn’t have to be true. And I think Yeshua modeled the perfect ability to swing the extremes while ALWAYS (unlike me) remaining in perfect balance.
The passages I shared above are situations that show the ability of Yeshua to remain balanced even in the midst of unbalanced lives, situations and circumstances.
In John 3 Yeshua interacts with and confronts one of the most religious people of that time. While in John 4 He deals with a well-known wicked woman. Yet, He navigates between both extremes to reach the heart and soul of both needs. That’s balance in action.
Next, in Matthew 9 Yeshua eats with the scum of society while in John 2 He casts out the religious scum in the Temple. In the one scene He’s very calm while in the other He’s (as some might have thought) a raving maniac. That’s balance in action.
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There’s a time for calm interaction while at other times it’s necessary to get “down ‘n dirty”. There’s a time to talk theology and a time when action against heresy, blasphemy, and corruption at all levels must come to the fore.
I propose that if we’re not both of these dynamics at the appropriate times, then we’re not Biblically balanced — we’re not being like Yeshua.
Satan is the great imbalancer. He likes people to be on the extremes of most anything and everything. But he also likes folks caught dead-center in the middle. If he can accomplish either of these in the life of the believer, then he can manipulate ineffective, out of balance individuals caught up in the latest Christian/Messianic fad to the avoidance, potentially, of the Spiritual Warfare active in the world.
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So why am I writing this? A couple of reasons:
*We’re living in unique times as Americans and believers. It’s a time of imbalance. And the imbalance that is being perpetuated is on purpose. The “Science” changes, literally, daily. The “Facts” get turned around and inside out while being presented through news outlets as normal, “Fair and Balanced,” and not to be questioned. That’s imbalance.
*We are going to be swung between extremes in the coming days and, I believe, until Yeshua comes. It’s on purpose. The Prince and Power of the Air knows that if God’s people become unstable and fluctuate between extremes then we’re useless as salt and light.
Therefore:
We have to be on guard.
We have to be sober-minded.
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In closing.
Proverbs, as I understand it, presents wisdom as being predicated upon knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 9:9-10 — Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
It appears, to me, that a substantial portion of God’s people are demonstrating a lack of Bible wisdom when it comes to discerning the times and knowing how to act in accordance to a Biblical mindset. Without God’s wisdom we will readily and too easily follow human reasoning, i.e., “the science”, politicians, and weak, clueless spiritual leaders.
When our actions and decisions are not based upon Bible knowledge and understanding it will produce a people void of Bible wisdom. That’s what’s happening in the lost world but, more importantly to note, in the Body of Messiah as well.
It has to change and we’re the only ones that can change it. It has to start with us, with you, with me. Until we bury our noses in our Bibles we’re going to be parallelized, stuck in the middle, confused, disobedient and …
A fairly poor representation of the balanced Savior we claim to serve which …
I trow none of us wants to be.