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The Balanced Christian Life -

- Mike Forest

"A false balance is abomination (Greuel) to the Lord; but a just weight is His
delight." (Proverbs 11:1).

Many of us from time to time have heard it said by more mature believers,
"stay balanced or don't go to extremes." This is very good advice to give
heed (auf etwas achten) to because most of us at some time in our Christian life have been out
of balance in our beliefs or in our Christian walk in general. I can speak
from personal experience on this subject because the Lord has had to reign
me in on many different occasions and bring me back into His balance.

Just as the enemy tempted our Lord by seeking to twist the Word of God,
many of us who live by the Word will also be tempted to use the Word
illegitimately in an attempt to bring us into error or excess.

In order for us to stay balanced in every area of our lives, it is
important to know what balance in the Christian life does not mean. Being
balanced does not mean compromise. It does not mean that we reach a
compromise between God and the world and live a life in which we offend
neither one. This is indeed impossible to do, because to be a friend of the
world is to be at enmity with God. (James 4:4).

To be balanced means that we follow the Lord Jesus Christ in all things,
and many of these things will seem to be very extreme to the natural mind.
The natural mind will never agree with the words of Jesus, that in order to
be His disciple we must deny self and take up the cross. Jesus Christ never
deviated (abweichen) to the right or to the left, because He only did what He saw His
Father do. Yet our Lord was considered by many of the religious folks of
His day to be a radical that was intent on overthrowing and dismantling
their religious traditions.

To be balanced means that we receive and live by all of the Word of God. We
cannot pick and choose the scriptures that we like and neglect those that
we dislike. The reason why much of the Church is divided today is because
men have held onto the parts of the Word that their church or denomination
ascribes to while neglecting the truths that don't fit into their own
personal agendas. Much of the imbalance has to do because of our natural
likes and dislikes. We are naturally attracted to those that are like us.
We have all heard of the saying "birds of a feather flock together" (gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern), and this is so very true within the Church of our Lord. Many of those that love
the bible will seek out churches where the bible is taught and where there
is a great emphasis on the Word of God. Others that love to experience the
Lord in praise and worship will seek out a church where the presence of the
Lord can be experienced and enjoyed. Many of those that love the prophetic
seek out churches where the prophetic is emphasized. All of these emphasis
are needed for the building up of the Church, but no one of these alone is
sufficient for causing the Body to come into full maturity. It takes all of
the fivefold ministry to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry.
It takes both the Spirit and the Word to bring us into spiritual maturity.

There are many areas in our Christian faith and walk that the Lord is
wanting to bring us more into a balance on, but I would like to give you a
few where there has been some very personal dealings in my own life.

God is wanting to bring us into a balance between both the fruit of the
Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Again, there are whole segments of the
church that emphasize one while neglecting the other. When I first came to
the Lord, I was so captivated by the love of God that little else mattered.
My wife and I became involved in a church, where all of the emphasis was on
the love of God. However, because the standard of the truth and the
holiness of God was not upheld, sin abounded within the church, and many
fell back into the old sinful lifestyles and were caught up in deception.
So the Lord began a process in me in which He began to root and ground me
in the truth. During this process I fellowshiped with believers that
believed in maintaining the standards of the Word of God at all costs, but
many of them became very judgmental and critical of those that were not on
what was perceived to be the same spiritual level that they were on. In the
process of being brought back into the balance of mercy and truth, I found
that I was also becoming judgmental and critical, and have had to repent on
numerous occasions.

Another area that the Lord has dealt with me about is the balance between
living the crucified life and the abundant life. It would seem to the
natural mind that there is a contradiction here, but the Word of God
teaches that the one who lives his life in total surrender, will also be
the one that the Lord blesses in all things. Whoever makes the kingdom of
God and His righteousness a first priority in his life will never have to
worry or be concerned about his natural needs being met. I became involved
in the Word of faith movement in the 70's and 80's. I am thankful for all
of the wonderful teachings on faith and prosperity that was incorporated
into my walk with the Lord during these years. However, I was later to
discover that without having the teachings of the cross as a foundation,
the prosperity message would not be used for God's purposes and glory, but
was a means of using God for my own selfish ends. As I saw the truth that
the self life must be crucified so that the Lord's life might be manifested
in me, I began to fellowship with believers that also embraced the
teachings of the deeper life. However, many of these believers did not
believe in claiming the promises of God, and I could see clearly in the
Word that it was God's will that I prospered and was in health even as my
soul prospered.

Jesus said that the road that leads to life is the "narrow way". God has
given us His Spirit and His Word to keep us on the path of life. There is a
ditch (Graben) on either side of this path of life. The enemy will always attempt to
drive us to some extreme to bring us out of the Lord's balance for our
lives. Praise God that the Holy Spirit has come to lead us into all truth.
His Word is a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet. The Faithful
One is able to keep us from stumbling and present us before our Heavenly
Father without spot or blemish.

                                                   In His Love,
                                                         Mike