According to J. I. Packer it is. In the ever-popular book Knowing God, Packer calls balance “a horrible, self-conscious word.” Terry Johnson, the author of When Grace Comes, mostly agrees with Packer and states that he find himself ”bothered by few things so much as the preoccupation with maintaining a ‘well-rounded life.’” He states, ”I am particularly annoyed by those professing Christians whose chief ambition is to not get ‘carried away’ or step too far outside of the mainstream.”
I tend to agree with Johnson and Packer on this. I have found in my own life, and the life of many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, that balance is too often a means of covering up cowardice and even disobedience. It seems that whenever I am searching for a reason not to do something sacrificially and to go beyond the call, I revert to the excuse that I must maintain “balance.” Yet in our Lord’s call for discipleship, it seems that the last thing we hear from him is our idea of balance. Listen to these commands:
“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matt. 5:29-30)
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” (Luke 6:27-30)
Or how about this one:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)
Whatever we have to say about these and many more teachings of Jesus, one thing we cannot say is that Jesus was preoccupied with our common notions of balance. As I consider missionaries of great renown, I am amazed at how many of them would not be regarded as balanced. Balance would not have driven William Carey or Adoniram Judson; John Paton or John Wesley; or scores of others who risked their life and limbs for the cause of Christ.
The more I live the Christian life, the more challenged I am not for balance but for boldness; not for safety but for courage and strength. In seminary Richard Pratt would frequently remind us, “Because the deck of life is always shifting, balance can be nothing more than momentary synchronicity.” The more I journey the more these words ring true and the less I am inclined to use the word balance. It may not be a four-letter word, but I might be inclined to use a four-letter word before I use it again.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
