What the World Needs is a Balance Beam

[HKHaugan]

When I watched the last Olympic gymnastics competition the event that had me most on edge was the balance beam. Consider how one slight slip can result not just in lower point scores but in actual injury. It’s the kind of an event that makes you cringe with half closed eyes hoping against hope that nothing bad will happen. But think of the balance that is demanded flip after flip and spin after spin.

Now take that picture and compare it to our being an image of God living on an unseen balance beam in the world around us. Every day we are called to maintain a balance in the midst of the devil, temptation, sin in self and others. It’s one thing to have a beam you can see but another to be able to stand on one you can’t see. If we rely solely on ourselves we are never sure of the outcome because we are imperfect. Every next step is one of fear, anxiety and worry as we circulate. Guesswork is about the best we can do and we have to admit with the gymnast, the simplest mistake can throw you off. We need a balance beam that deals with our sin, its imperfections, their consequences and the ability to know how to approach every next step. This is why Jesus came, to give us balance as we take every next step.

Just as the gymnast is given physical attributes that enable him to learn, practice and attempt his events so as images of God we are given a mind, a heart and a spirit like His. But we have, because of Adam’s sin, been thrown out of balance, fallen off His beam and are flailing around on the mat trying to get back on something we can trust.

This is where Jesus comes in. He has the perfect mind, heart and Spirit in balance. He is the unseen balance beam in the unseen world. How we recover from our first fall and every fall after is by renewing the mind, our heart and our spirit. Renew is to re-new, that is to ‘new’ again. It’s jumping back up on the beam by belief, trust and faith, leaping in belief with the mind, leaping in trust with the heart and leaping in faith with our spirit. It starts with our willingness to accept the balance Jesus provides for each part of our image. It starts with the new ideas He gives that we let enter our mind. The ideas start when we leap into the Word to grasp the newness that awaits us every time we read it. The uniqueness of the ideas in the Word is their ability to shower our willingness with the rain of insight and our openness with the dewdrops of wisdom.

What makes a scriptural idea new to our mind?
It has logic promoting a deeper understanding of its context. As the idea takes root it opens up something new in thought. Take just the idea of Jesus for instance. The idea that He is God opens up a need to ask how that is possible causing us to search for the answer. Every time the Scripture is opened the process of thought is blessed as the Spirit reveals something new about Jesus and His being God the Son, the Savior and the Redeemer of each of us personally. You begin to see Him revealed on page after page from Genesis through Revelation.

What makes a scriptural idea new to our heart?
Continuing with the idea of Jesus as Lord and Savior of each person we feel like we have a new insight, a piece of wisdom, that gets us to trust Him more as each next moment only makes sense when He is the feeling we get that He is someone we can trust. This is apparent when the idea of His presence takes flight beyond the limitation of words where we realize we can trust its truth and move more deeply toward faithful action. When we really begin to trust it’s then that the attitudinal blocks of fear, obstinacy, denial and pride are exposed. It’s then we realize how inadequate and empty they are as motivators. They only bring loneliness and death. Here is where we can test just how much we really trust the Lord as the One who reveals the depth of His Word through the Holy Spirit. We either retreat or take the next step which is faith to act on it.

What makes a scriptural idea new to our spirit?
Does the realization of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s presence inspire faith to act? Trust inspires action. Faith carries it out. As my heart is inspired by the idea I sense the push of the Holy Spirit in my spirit to act on it and share it. Does my trust in Jesus cause me to pray for the Holy Spirit to bring Him to mind and empower me to act for Him? Does my spirit sense the Holy Spirit working His purpose out in me?

When these three are in balance then we find that newness, excitement, energy fuel every next step into every next moment. What the Lord Jesus does is to bring balance to this process because He is the balance beam. If we see Jesus as He reveals Himself in Scripture it is His mind, heart and Spirit that are in perfect balance. The beautiful part of having a bond with Jesus is that we who are out of balance can be brought into His balance though obedience to His Word. Where we are out of balance where we may be more heart than mind or more mind than heart of more heart or mind than action the Holy Spirit brings the balance necessary. Jesus prayed for this balance in John 17 when He asked the Father that we may dwell in Him “I in them and you in me (Jn.17:23).” Now again we have something to share, our Savior to be someone else’s Savior and our Lord to be someone else’s Lord the only balance beam ever designed for every mind, heart and spirit.