Getting bthe Balance Right

I'm a fan of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. In the 'Pirates of Penzance' there is a chorus: "A paradox, a paradox, A most ingenious paradox. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, That paradox."

I sometimes think that on first sight the Christian life can appear to be full of paradox's, with conflicting instructions between two extremes. For example, in the Bible we are told that salvation is a free gift, but it costs everything we have: that walking with God is effortless, but it takes effort: that we don't have to compete, but we need to run the race to win!

Of course the Bible is not a set of rules - we have been freed from all that - but it's about a love relationship with Jesus. We find the balance as we follow Him and allow Him into our lives.

Even as a Christian, I tended to swing between two extremes. There were often crises and difficulties at work which could be scary and stressful. However, as I faced the problems and the adrenalin flowed, I found it stimulating and fulfilling. In a way I didn't want to stop, so took this pattern into my private life. And then, as I tried to relax I would swing the other way and even become lethargic. There seemed to be little in between full pelt and stop.

I have discovered something about adrenalin. It boosts your energy, but it also releases a stress hormone that eventually can have a suppressive effect on the immune system. Now you just cannot live on adrenalin for too long before you get stressed out and you become ill. That's what happened to me.

My life was out of balance and I was forced to take stock and spend more time just abiding in Jesus and feeding on that love relationship.

Now, I try to flow with Him rather than do things in my strength and cause stress. I am mindful of two things. First, that God's energy and power are His, not mine - obvious, but very important - and secondly, when God's power works through us, it is effortless. When things are moving in our life in the right balance we are at rest - and that's another paradox!

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life -" John 5:39-40 New International Version

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You Are What You Eat

My wife and I try to eat sensibly, buying fresh fruit and vegetables and keeping fat and sugar to a minimum. We have tried various diets in the past, but they didn't seem to produce the promised results and in any case we found that the rigid regime began to take over our lives.

Others choose to take it more seriously and often quote the phrase, "You are what you eat!" I looked it up and found it originated in the 1800's or earlier in Europe. The German, "Der Mensch ist, was er ißt."translates into English as 'man is what he eats'. Much later in the 1960's, it was adopted by the champions of healthy eating and is currently the title of a popular TV dieting series.

Sometimes food is taken much further. We watched a TV programme the other evening about families who were following an extreme raw food diet, omitting all meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, wheat and flour and certain fruits. The food preparation gave us the impression of being a laboratory, rather than a kitchen. They looked physically healthy, but we were given the impression that it had become the top priority in their lives. A filmed teaching session was shown, that appeared very much like an evangelical Christian service of praise and worship.

It never ceases to amaze me how we will often go to extraordinary lengths to preserve our physical health, but give scant attention to our spiritual lives. Jesus came to give us new life, free and everlasting! We need to eat and drink, but only He can satisfy the spiritual hunger. Furthermore, he did not separate out the physical from the spiritual.

If we feed regularly upon and inwardly digest His Word and drink in His loving presence, we have the potential for an abundant life, which has a positive effect upon our whole being, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

"Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4 New International Version

"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 New International Version

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