Balance In Our Christian Walk

So many people have been stating about the importance of balance.  This is so true for all of us.  We need to take the time for Jesus in praise/worship, study, home/family, work, etc.

If we concentrate too much on one thing, we can soon become overwhelmed and fall. This would be much like someone driving a car but concentrating on a text message instead of the road ahead.  Too much concentration on what is happening on the internet, radio and television, can cause much stress and grief.

Likewise, not enough exposure to the truth, can cause us to become unprepared when things get bad.  We need to daily praise the Lord, ask for forgiveness, read the word and obey the calling the Lord has placed on our lives.

So many people are staying too focused on warning and danger!  After awhile, it will be much like the “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and nobody will be listening any longer. Balance is the key!

Our calling can be in numerous areas and can include many gifts from the Holy Spirit.

Some of those gifts are:  The Word of Knowledge, The Word of Wisdom, The Gift of Prophecy, The Gift of Faith, The Gifts of Healing, The Working of Miracles, The Discernment of Spirits, The Gift of Tongues, The Interpretation of Tongues

Some of the fruits of the spirit are: Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness & Self-Control.

 

1 Corinthians 12

Diversity of Spiritual Gifts
12 Now concerning what comes from the Spirit: brothers, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you used to be led off to the idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God activates each gift in each person. 7 A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial:

8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages, to another, interpretation of languages.
11 But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills.

Unity Yet Diversity in the Body
12 For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 So the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20 Now there are many parts, yet one body.  21 So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. 24 But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. 28 And God has placed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles,
then gifts of healing, helping, managing, various kinds of languages.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other languages?
Do all interpret? 31 But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

Balance is the key.  We don’t want to bury our heads in the sand, but we sure don’t want to get into a constant state of panic by concentration on what everyone else is saying either!

Having Too Much Could Cause One To Turn Away From The Lord

Proverbs 30:8-9 

Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me.
Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need.
⁹ Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the Lord?”
or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.

Decently & In Order

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in other languages. ⁴⁰ But everything must be done decently and in order.

Hearing & Doing The Word

James 1:19-27

 19 My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works—this person will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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