A Balanced Life

A Balanced Life


“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy”


Jude 24


Balancing the Christian life is not a high wire act in a circus. A balanced life is actually lived out on the ground by placing one foot in front of the other and following Jesus. There are two words that define the balanced life of the believer and they are the words, “like it”. Keep reading if a balanced life is something you desire. Let me ask you a question. Would you say that your life is balanced? Most people see balance as the ability to manage multiple tasks all at the same time without giving too much time to any one thing (which would be deemed out of balance). When we think of a balanced life we often times think of priorities and maintaining order of our relationships. For people of faith a balanced life would most likely be reflected in the time we dedicate to God, our family and friends followed by our work and hobbies or interests. Balance often times looks a lot like time management. Most people feel out of balance in life when they don’t feel as if they have enough time to do all the things they hope to do or believe they should do.

What is God’s idea of a balanced life? Scripture paints a different picture of a balanced life. As a matter of fact God’s idea of a balanced life might not resemble what most people have come to believe a balanced life looks like at all. To God a balanced life is not found by multitasking, but rather being single minded. Less is more you could say with God and not the other way around. James 1:8 tells us that, “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” When you study the 10 Commandments that God first gave to Moses you discover all ten of the commands deal with one thing, relationships. The 10 Commandments don’t deal with 10 different relationships but in reality only two, our relationship to God and our fellow man.

Jesus, in addressing the 10 Commandments in the New Testament took all the guess work out of trying to balance life by reminding His listeners that all ten of the commandments can be fulfilled by doing just one thing. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” There are those words, “like it” I mentioned above. In the Greek language the words “like it” or “likened to it” means that the second commandment of God and everything that flows from it all the way until the Tenth Commandment actually stem from the first commandment. What that means regarding living a balanced life is to focus your life on one thing and one thing only. Love God with everything you have and the rest of the commandments of God will naturally occur as they flow out of the first commandment. The success of every commandment of God is the connection they have to the first commandment.

The apostle John put it like this in 1 John 4:20-21, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” The one flows out of the other. The balanced life then is not found in trying to multitask or maintain a slew of priorities. The balanced life is achieved when we go “all in” and dedicate our entire being to loving God first and foremost for when we do that everything else will fall into place. Remember, you can never make the wrong choice by loving God and keeping Him first but every decision a person can make is wrong when we don’t. Balance is easy when both our feet are standing on the Rock.


“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Matthew 7:24–25


I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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