You've Got Balance Brah!

So about a year ago I was hanging out in a pub with some friends. (You can read as hanging with sinners and tax collectors but be careful that you don't become like the ones that first coined that phrase) I ran into a kid from highschool that became an Alaskan fisherman, like the guys on "Deadliest Catch" and then took the money from his few months of nonstop work and traveled all over the globe trying to surf and soak up the vibes of different cultures.

Apparently, he had seen my myspace with pictures of me wakeboarding, skateboarding, surfing, and hanging with orphans on missions trips so he said to me, "you've got balance brah!" I don't even know if I can help you hear him say those words like he did. He was a little impaired and he put a ton of emphasis on the word "balance." I honestly didn't know how to respond, so I told him it was years and years of practice. Then he kinda grabbed my arm and said, "no man... you've got balance brah" putting more of an emphasis on the word balance. I guess he was talking about the mission work that I've done and that I make it very apparent that I am a sold out Christ follower so he was saying balance inferring that it was "gnarly that I answer to a higher power."

I am trying to figure out this whole balance thing. Lately I've been wrestling with what it means to have balance. How can you hold two seemingly different views in the balance? Think about this... the apostle Paul said "...besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? (2 Corinthians 11:28-29)" Sounds like a pretty intense burden? I know the feeling too... obviously not to the extent that Paul did, but I can feel the pain of looking at churches and have a concern for their spiritual well being. I know how he feels about feeling weak and I know how he feels when he speaks of sin and the inward burn. But in another place Paul writes these words, "Rejoice in the Lord! I say it again Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)" Be glad I command you. How does Paul hold in the balance these two seemingly opposing views?! How is it possible to be joyful when you are concerned about the health of churches or the fight of sin in your life or even the seeming victories Satan has in your friends or families lives? How can you be joyful then?

In my opinion it is only a work of God to have Joy when things are hard. We need to cry out that God would pour the oil of joy on our lives. We need to look at the majesty of the One on the throne and recognize, "He is enough."

Let me swing the other way for a moment... are you unconcerned? I think it is possible to be naive of what the Spirit is doing. And I think it is at your own detriment. Proverbs 1:32 says, "the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them." I think it is possible to be ignorant of the fact that the world is perishing around us and we simply attend church and feel pretty good about life. In fact Ezekiel describes the sin of Sodom as this (by the way we don't want to be like Sodom . God poured his wrath out on and consumed her with fire), "she was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned." Sodom was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. Sounds deadly close to a description of my life.

So, I guess the crux of the matter is this... are you heavy on one side or the other? Do you have balance today? Or are you operating on one end of the spectrum? Because both ends are unhealthy and we need to find a way to be somewhere in the middle. Somehow concerned about the world around us, and the state of the churches, and the wages of sin, and weakness of our faith.... but also rejoicing and joyful in the fact that "the enemy has been defeated, and death couldn't hold Him down. So lift your voice in victory and make Your praises loud (Hillsong United lyrics paraphrased)."

Let's have some balance brahs!