The UNbalanced Life...

It's been a couple weeks since I have posted and hope that everyone has enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and holiday with their families and/or friends. I must say that I enjoyed the quite eventful trip to visit my family. Some of you may be asking if it was eventful because of my family. Well, of course every trip to see my family somehow turns out to be eventful due to the boisterous and out spoken family that we have. Although it is quite common to hear a "passionate" conversation pertaining to politics or religion during the holidays, it was my brother's observation that, "Hey, we didn't have a fight about religion or politics!" Success! So if it was not the debate around the passing of cranberry sauce and turkey that made the trip eventful, what was it?

Upon visiting a friend of mine, I had my bag stolen out of my parked vehicle. In said bag was my laptop, external hard drive, bible, three books and various other small items. Three years of school work, sermons, pictures, videos, music, etc. all gone in a second. My response: at first annoyance with myself for not taking my bag with me as is my usual habit; second, laughter!

Laughter?! When I have told people about this unfortunate set of occurrences and I laugh while telling them, I am looked at with a puzzled look and normally told, "I'm glad that you can laugh about this." To be honest I don't know how I've been able to laugh about such an occurrence until I began reflecting and talking with a friend of mine about life and what it means to love Jesus and be a member of the present and future Kingdom of God.

As I was in my car driving today a brief devotional thought by a well known minister came across the airwaves of my car. The point of the thought was that in life it is not necessarily about elimination but about moderation in certain activities in life. The example used by this certain speaker was the purchase of expensive coffee during one's work week. I must say that I was feeling somewhat guilty as I was soon going to be heading to a particular coffee shop known to be a little more expensive than making it at one's home. I must admit that when given the idea that moderation was OK I had a sense of relief about my plans.

Why do I talk about moderation in my purchase of coffee and how in the world does that relate to the theft of my personal property? I think that this idea of moderation or balance in life drastically impacts priorities and more importantly impacts the way in which I view what it means to be a follower or disciple of Jesus Christ and to be part of the Kingdom of God.

In our world I think it is very common to hear people talking about balance and priorities. It's about finding balance in work and play. It's about finding balance in ones personal and social life. It's about finding balance in the busyness of ones already hectic schedule. It's about finding a balance between spending time for myself and the giving of myself to others. It's about finding a balance between my day to day life and the life I live for Jesus as an active participant in the Kingdom of God.

I believe this idea of balance to be an enemy of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:37-39)

As I read this scripture I must say it's a hard teaching. Many times I have heard this teaching expressed with an air of balance mixed in. It's about a comparison game. It's a balance with my family on one hand and God on the other. It's as though as long as the balanced is tipped just enough in favor of God then I am somehow good enough and have another box checked off in my pursuit of heaven. It is my thought that it is not about tipping the scales in favor of God in such a manner that I have placed a couple more counterweights into God's balance as to raise my attention to Him slightly above that of the other people in my life.

I propose that this passage in Matthew along with others (Luke 9:23, Galatians 2:20, Galations 6:14) make a case that the life of a disciple is about "divine IMbalance". Jesus does not say that if we give 52% of our time to Him and 48% of our time to our family that we are good to go. Jesus does not say that if we are willing to give Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to Him that we are safe from the pull of the enemy. Jesus does not ask that we simply get smacked across the knuckles for His sake. No, Jesus calls us to take up a cross. Jesus invites us to walk the journey set before Him - the way of sacrificial love - a sacrifice unto death. In other words, Jesus is asking for EVERYTHING! This doesn't sound like balance to me.

What if the life of a Christian is to be marked by absurd wastefulness (in the eyes of the world) of their affection, resources, time and energy in worship to Jesus Christ? What if the life of the Christian is to look unbalanced to the rest of the world due to the amount of time we spend caring for others? What if it is actually true that when we lose our lives for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the Kingdom of God, we will actually find true life?

Perhaps when we are willing to live a life that gives everything to God, for the sake of His Kingdom, our lives will look balanced to the rest of the world? What if it is true that when all of our affections, intellect, and passion are focused upon Jesus Christ and Him glorified that the rest of our lives will fall into divine balance due to our first priority of divine imbalance? Is this not one of the paradoxes of the Kingdom of God and the message of Jesus Christ? Maybe when we have, what looks like an absolute waste of our lives, given every part of ourselves to Jesus Christ the world will see what real life looks like. Maybe the world will see that when we love God fully we supernaturally love our families better. We supernaturally love our friends better. We supernaturally love our neighbors and coworkers better. We supernaturally love our enemies and those who try and oppress us. Maybe we would be better workers, business people, students, coworkers, politicians, finance managers, janitors, moms, dads, brothers and sisters.

Rather than trying to play a bargaining game with God about how much balance is in our lives; rather than trying to bring our lives into balance through some form of strength and intestinal fortitude; rather than trying to manage my time, resources and personal life better through self help books and positive thinking; perhaps we should spend more of our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual energy on the only ONE worthy of it - Jesus. Then laptops, hard drives, books and coffee seem to lose their importance. Perhaps the most balanced life is the one most divinely imbalanced first.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." (Galations 2:20)