Balance

Psa 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.
Psa 34:10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
Psa 34:11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Balance isn't exactly the right word for it, but there is a sense of balance in the life of a Christ follower that has in it a love for God and a fear of him all at the same time.....a coming to him for refuge, seeking after him and at the same time a reverent fear of who he is.

There's a balance that makes this possible only by starting with who God is FIRST. I think we lose our way….lose our balance… when we don't establish our faith around a correct knowledge and understanding of God.

One of the best books on this topic is A.W. Tozer's book Knowledge of the Holy. It's a deceptively small book, but rich in establishing who God is and what he is like.

In the early part of the book he writes,

"A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God. It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity. All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him."

I gave his book to a person who had gotten involved in a bad thelogy a number of years ago, and asked them to read it. I thought that if I could get them to think rightly about God then we could restore some balance to their thinking and theology, but when I asked later, "did you read the book I gave you?" the answer was astonishing to me. This person said, "Yes, I read it, but MY god isn't like that..."

Immediately I saw their problem. They had become an idol worshipper….they had created a god of their own design to worship. Many have done that to their own hurt. If my view of God does not line up with scripture then I have invented a god of my own design....I have grabbed my hammer and chisel and formed a god I'm comfortable with (note Isa 44:9 Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.)

Balance in my life starts with knowing God...the God who is....and from that everything else must line up. From that foundation I can respond correctly to my life and situations. From that foundation I can find balance.