Restore Your Balance!

Well, we made it back safely. I thought I was going to have to drive back to Columbus from New Orleans in the rain, as precipitation was forecasted for Mobile, Montgomery, Opelika and Columbus, but thankfully, it hardly rained at all on our way back. And with new tires on the Silver Bullet (my nickname for the new SUV), she handled the roads beautifully. It made the 7-hour journey seem like a few minutes.

This vacation time taught me something important. I feel more rested right now than I have in a long time. Before this year, I had not left the city for anything other than church trips and school business in 13 years. You heard that right. It's not something I'm proud of, although at one point I was proud of that fact. During the time that I served as Youth Pastor of my church, when the school year ended and the summer began, I was so committed to making sure that the children had things to do during the season (VBS, Summer Youth Revival, movie nights, attending other churches' youth revivals, etc.), that I never gave a thought to my OWN need for refreshing.

And yet, as you look over the teachings of Scripture, I was in error in this regard. Even God, with all His power, and His need for NOTHING, rested on the seventh day after He created the Heavens and the Earth (Gen. 2:1). When He gave the law to Moses His servant, God hallowed the seventh day and commanded that no work be done on it (Exodus 20:8-11). And Jesus, when He sent His disciples forth to witness and work for Him, pulled them out of the field for a little R & R after they got back (Mark 6:30-32). Our bodies are not designed to work indefinitely, and yet, we are pushing ourselves to do more and more with less and less, and in a much shorter time.

I'm sure some of you may have heard the old admonition to "not be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." There is a lot of validity in that statement. I know a lot of Christians who are so focused on serving the Lord and being pleasing to Him that they neglect their families, their earthly responsibilities, their careers, all in the thinking that if I'm serving the Lord with everything that I have, then He will take care of all the other stuff. I know, I used to be one of them (well, much worse than I was over the course of the last 13 years. So much so that it cost me a career in the military).

On the flip side, I've seen other believers that claim to rely so much on the unending love of God that they are convinced that they don't have to change their ways at all, that God's grace and mercy are so abundant that they can live any way they please, because "the Lord knows my heart." This is foolishness and presumption.

I'll never forget one of the things my wife and I discussed when we first met, and which has really been a continuous discussion of ours for the length of our union thus far (we'll celebrate 22 years at the end of next month). It is the need for balance. A balanced life, a balanced diet, a balanced budget, a balanced FAITH. Getting the right amount of sleep. Eating a good nutritious meal. Keeping watch of your finances, and investing wisely. Spending quality time with your family and loved ones, without smothering them. Spending time in the presence of the Lord, rightly dividing the Word of His truth, and receiving from HIM what we need to face the day and the challenges thereof. Yielding to the Lord so He can manifest His holiness IN you, without taking yourself so seriously that you become stuffy and unapproachable. (There are a LOT of saints, on both sides of this issue! They are either too tight or too loose!) In the book of Proverbs, Agur the son of Jakeh (they had some interesting names back then, huh?) made this a part of his prayer, when he wrote, "Two things have I required of Thee: deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain" (Proverbs 30:7-9). Make no mistake about it: the Lord requires us to work down here, work hard, and work with excellence. But we have to also make time to be refreshed and renewed. It is just as important for us to schedule some "down time" as it is for us to manage our work time. Don't be so driven to be a public success that you become a private failure. Take the time to work with your children and let them know you love them. Take the time to love on your spouse and convey your respect, love and admiration. Take the time to go someplace you haven't been before, to see something you've never seen before, to taste something you've never eaten before, to see the world and God's creation from a different perspective. And you will find that you will return to your corner of the earth with more energy, renewed focus, and greater appreciation for what the Lord has done and is doing in your own life.

That's what I took away from the past two weeks (that and a great appreciation for Cajun cooking, lol). I don't know where we'll be going next summer, if I live to see it, but I plan on going SOMEWHERE. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. I might just take you up on it. And if you find yourself bogged down like I've been, please, free yourself. Live life with no regrets, because tomorrow is NOT promised. Do what you need to do to restore your balance.