SPIRITUAL ISSUES OF BALANCE: A Message on Spiritual Maturity. (14 JUNE 2016)

SPIRITUAL ISSUES OF BALANCE: A Message on Spiritual Maturity. (14 JUNE ’16) “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him…But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one….we have the mind of Christ.”(A) The person of God is having to make judgment calls on all kinds of things, and as he or she matures, he or she will spiritually walk in balance…doing things in harmony & order & moderation. But as the verse above indicates, to be spiritually balanced requires understanding the value of things spiritually. Otherwise it is hard to weigh things, when making decisions. For instance, the farmer who spent all his time farming and neglecting his soul was called foolish by Christ.

AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE showing a lack of spiritual balance is recorded at MT 23:23, where Christ says, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint & anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” So we need to examine our priorities in light of the spiritual value of the choices before us. This is the difference between the spiritual & natural man.(B) For example, the Word says, “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The spiritually mature person is able to weigh the values of these things in a spiritually accurate manner.(C) The Word of God contrasts immaturity with maturity…”you need someone to teach you the first principles of the oracles of God…But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good & evil.”(D)

UNBALANCED THEOLOGY. One can often spot individuals or even whole denominations, who will major on the minors. They may find a small item, blow it out of proportion, and by singling it out, claim that they are God’s elect & that everyone else has been rejected by God for ignoring this doctrine …meanwhile they hypocritically ignore many more important spiritual things—for instance, life & love. An example would be a JW thinking he is superior to everyone else because he doesn’t celebrate birthdays (which in reality is not something forbidden—the angels were the first to celebrate Christ’s birth by the way), while meanwhile lacking love. Genuine wholesome spirituality has a balance of love, faith, & hope along with the fruit of the Spirit (GAL 5:22-23). The mature person of God ends up with a crown of life.

THE BALANCES OF NATURE. Life itself has many life-giving balances, one’s blood PH, one’s glucose levels, night & day, give & take, work & leisure, and so forth. Likewise, spiritual life also has balances: for instance, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. But our worldly culture often gets complex & out of balance. A person’s pets may get better medical care than one’s neighbor.

May you my friend, in the midst of the pressures of the World, make balanced, wise, mature choices that glorify Christ.(E)

(A) 1 COR 2:14-15 (B) 1 COR 2:14-15 (C) ROM 8:18 (D) HEB 5:12-14 (E) cf. JN 16:14