Last night my thinking on this was challenged. Just what is it that we’re balancing? Between a little bit of good and a little bit of bad? Of course, in the practical aspects of day-to-day life, balance can be a good thing. We should balance our food intake, our activity level, commitments, etc. After all, it would not be a good thing to only eat doughnuts every day, or run everywhere we go and never walk, or be away from home twenty hours a day. We do need balance. But is it for the Christian life?
As believers, we are called to be like Christ. How many of us would say that Jesus lived a “balanced” life? Were Paul or Peter balanced men? What about Noah or Abraham? I wouldn’t consider building an ark or leading hundreds of people out of Egypt marks of men concerned with balance. They were radical!
Personally, God has called me to be a wife and a mother. I do not want to be a balanced in what He has for me! I shouldn’t be thinking, “Oh! I’ve spent too much time being a blessing to my husband this week. I really should cut back on that!” I wouldn’t tell my little one, “I’m sorry, I know you’re crying and need attention, but I’ve been taking care of you too much today. I need to be balanced.” Instead, I want to radically throw myself into being the very best wife and mother I can be, because this is God’s calling on my life.
Throughout God’s Word, we are commanded to obey Him and be conformed to His image. At times this may require us to do things others consider extreme and we might be encouraged to “find some balance.” Our Savior was radical–to the point of dying for sinners. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps.” (1 Peter 2:21) I no longer want to think of balance in relation to the Christian life. We as children of the Heavenly Father are not called to be balanced, but to be Biblical.
I think too often license is excused by the call for balance in the Christian life, so I think your post makes an important point. However, while it is true that we are called to be Biblical, sometimes Biblical is balanced, depending on how we set up our extremes. Should we be antinomians? No. Should we be legalists/Pharisees? No. We need a balanced view of law and grace. We are saved by grace, but obedience is a consequence. Throughout history, there have always been those who harp on grace (a distorted view of grace, that is), to the point of license, or those who harp on the law, to the point of a works-based salvation. So I would say, yes, we are called to be Biblical, which may or may not require a balance between two extremes. Good post to think on. Thanks, Ashleigh!
Very good post! Sometimes balance is really just an excuse for laziness on my part. On the other hand, for me there are times when I realize that I’ve gone too far (trying to live to the extreme), and I begin to think there are only some things that are spiritual, and doing something like reading an enjoyable fiction book is not, so it’s not worthy of any time. I think there’s the good balance, like Susan mentioned above- a biblical balance. I enjoyed the post!!!
Susan, I think you are 100% right.
I wrote this a while ago, and since then have had time to think about the practical side of balance. We do need a Biblical balance in our lives, it’s just that we shouldn’t be balancing the Biblical. Does that make any sense? For that which pertains to Christ, following and obeying Him, we should be wholeheartedly sold-out and radical. Of course, as the fallen creatures we are, we often fail to realize that this is about the heart, not whether or not it *looks* extreme. Many Christians I know have, in a “quest for holiness,” become very radical about having an outward show of holiness and appearing to be sold-out for Christ. As you said, this is Pharasaichal. On the other end of the spectrum, I also know many people saying they need to live a balanced life and mean that they should be balanced between a little bit of looking like a Christian in their daily lives and a little bit of living like the world. A heart completely devoted to the Lord will be focused on Him, and thus all other things fall away. The key issue here is the heart, as it is with so many things. So, all that to say, I agree with you… you further expounded on what I was trying to get across. 
I thought your clarification was excellent, Ashleigh. You are absolutely right that we should not be balancing Biblical with secular! That is really a problem in our culture. We should be dead to sin and alive to Christ: no balance between old and new man there. Like I said, the discussion of “balance” mainly depends on what extremes we are discussing
. Thanks for the clarification!