Scripture has a great balance of topics. All scripture is life breathed and useful for teaching and instruction.
It is easy to enjoy focusing on only a few parts of scripture. All themes in scripture are important.
We may not always see the importance in the themes, but it is an act of faith to the God at his word that all scripture is important.
If we only sample or read favorite parts of scripture we risk vulnerability to imbalance. The bible is a whole work. It is segmented in many parts, but it is too easy to wrongly prioritize parts over others.
It is not to our benefit to strongly prioritize parts of scripture over others. It is easy to look too closely at teaching of a few texts and fail to understand the large scale movements of scripture.
At times it seems to be a point of pride for preachers on how much they can extract from a single verse. What is important is how much God is glorified rather than how impressive an exposition seems.
The glory of God is the final word on the success or failure of any expression of scripture.
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Thursday, August 28, 2014
The Church and the World
The Church always needs to adjust to the world. The Church and the world are never in harmony. A Christendom is only possible when the Church loses its vision in the world.
The response of the church to the world and engagement of the church to the world will always look different. But the church does need to engage the world and be in the world to some degree.
The call of scripture is to be "in the world, but not of the world." The most key words to many churches today is "in" the world. Many churches pull back from the world to a degree that they fail to really be "in" the world.
We must be active participants in society and are not called to isolate ourselves from society. Of course we must not be "of" the world. It is a great balance.
Most theological error is to pick one part of the bible and neglect another. You see much of the Christian teaching on life is a balance. Most error in relation to the bible is to affirm one teaching to the degree of in essence rejecting the other teaching.
The constant call of scripture to wisdom is because balance is needed in many things. Thought and prayer and wisdom are needed because there are many ways to become unbalanced in life.
We will fail fairly frequently in life. God knows this and loves us anyway. If we do not think we fail we have not understood the weight of the law of God. We constantly fail in life whether we admit it or not.
The response of the church to the world and engagement of the church to the world will always look different. But the church does need to engage the world and be in the world to some degree.
The call of scripture is to be "in the world, but not of the world." The most key words to many churches today is "in" the world. Many churches pull back from the world to a degree that they fail to really be "in" the world.
We must be active participants in society and are not called to isolate ourselves from society. Of course we must not be "of" the world. It is a great balance.
Most theological error is to pick one part of the bible and neglect another. You see much of the Christian teaching on life is a balance. Most error in relation to the bible is to affirm one teaching to the degree of in essence rejecting the other teaching.
The constant call of scripture to wisdom is because balance is needed in many things. Thought and prayer and wisdom are needed because there are many ways to become unbalanced in life.
We will fail fairly frequently in life. God knows this and loves us anyway. If we do not think we fail we have not understood the weight of the law of God. We constantly fail in life whether we admit it or not.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Being Defeated by Error
Often we are defeated by error because we avoid it too greatly. We see an error and over reach and now we are in an unbalanced position because we have moved too far from the error and our now out of balance.
You see this in many churches which perceive an issue in culture, where the church swings in opposition to the culture into a position far stronger than the Bible takes. They of course see themselves as adhering the Bible, but often the movement is too severe.
In many circles there is a mild gnosticism related to many aspects of life which is stronger than the biblical teachings on issues. The concern for being separate from the world can often push the church into a mild legalism which is not affirmed by scripture.
Scripture often offers liberty on many viewpoints which many modern churches do not allow liberty on. Often the liberty infringed upon in these churches is more subtle.
You know what the church thinks of those who would have liberty on the issue. It creates a great awkwardness in the church.
In leadership of the church it often causes many of the more spiritual infants of the church to be pushed into leadership. These Christians lack the spiritual growth to understand what liberty is and thus live in a very simple way which no one can question.
Of course they also often lack an active faith. Often the church values the faith of those who are too afraid of sin to act in the world over those who desire to both act in the world and avoid sin.
You see this in many churches which perceive an issue in culture, where the church swings in opposition to the culture into a position far stronger than the Bible takes. They of course see themselves as adhering the Bible, but often the movement is too severe.
In many circles there is a mild gnosticism related to many aspects of life which is stronger than the biblical teachings on issues. The concern for being separate from the world can often push the church into a mild legalism which is not affirmed by scripture.
Scripture often offers liberty on many viewpoints which many modern churches do not allow liberty on. Often the liberty infringed upon in these churches is more subtle.
You know what the church thinks of those who would have liberty on the issue. It creates a great awkwardness in the church.
In leadership of the church it often causes many of the more spiritual infants of the church to be pushed into leadership. These Christians lack the spiritual growth to understand what liberty is and thus live in a very simple way which no one can question.
Of course they also often lack an active faith. Often the church values the faith of those who are too afraid of sin to act in the world over those who desire to both act in the world and avoid sin.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Living in the World
The teaching of scripture is to be "in the world but not of the world." It is an interesting balance and one easy to get wrong.
A lot of Christians miss the point by overemphasizing the importance of righteousness and otherness of faith. In doing so they begin to isolate themselves from the world for the sake of purity.
In a sense we cannot over emphasize righteousness, but living righteously in complete isolation from the world is not Christian. A lot of Christians isolate from the world because it is easier to live righteously when you are not interacting with sinners which is exactly against the teaching and life of Jesus.
The key is balance. We need to live in the world but be separate from it. Being "in the world" is as important as being "not of the world." If you lose the balance you have lost being faithful to scripture.
As Christians we may not associate with certain people for the right reasons, but it should not be our tendency in life to isolate ourselves from people simply because they are atheists or people of other faiths.
A lot of Christians miss the point by overemphasizing the importance of righteousness and otherness of faith. In doing so they begin to isolate themselves from the world for the sake of purity.
In a sense we cannot over emphasize righteousness, but living righteously in complete isolation from the world is not Christian. A lot of Christians isolate from the world because it is easier to live righteously when you are not interacting with sinners which is exactly against the teaching and life of Jesus.
The key is balance. We need to live in the world but be separate from it. Being "in the world" is as important as being "not of the world." If you lose the balance you have lost being faithful to scripture.
As Christians we may not associate with certain people for the right reasons, but it should not be our tendency in life to isolate ourselves from people simply because they are atheists or people of other faiths.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Raising Children
Raising children requires a delicate balance. There are two major errors for parents to avoid.
The first is under raising children. Children in many families are given far too much freedom and far to little wisdom or guidance.
The other error which is more common in the church is over raising children. Parents vastly overestimate their abilities and influence and over control their children.
You see parents wanting a say on every aspect of their children's lives well past the point when input is helpful on certain topics. Parents usually justify such actions saying things like, "as a parent giving advice is my right."
The reality is the issue is not if or if not the parents have a right to always give children unsolicited advice. We have the right to make many poor decisions.
The question is should a parent in general more and more step back from advice giving to their children as their children get older? The answer I believe is clearly, yes.
Many parents destroy or greatly damage their relationship with their older children by refusing to accept them as emerging adults or current adults. As their children start careers and raise their own children parents often refuse to take a back seat.
It is an irony because often many years ago the parents themselves had felt great frustration and tension with their parents who refused to step back. Now they do the same thing and justify their actions as that they know better now and wish to help their children.
Of course the reality is they repeat the error their parents made and use wisdom as an excuse. True wisdom is understanding that children become adults and children who are adults are not clones of their parents.
They have their own ideas on certain issues and reasons for those beliefs. Parents who do not pull back on unsolicited advice to their adult children do not help their children. They simply disrespect their adult children on topics there is disagreement on.
The first is under raising children. Children in many families are given far too much freedom and far to little wisdom or guidance.
The other error which is more common in the church is over raising children. Parents vastly overestimate their abilities and influence and over control their children.
You see parents wanting a say on every aspect of their children's lives well past the point when input is helpful on certain topics. Parents usually justify such actions saying things like, "as a parent giving advice is my right."
The reality is the issue is not if or if not the parents have a right to always give children unsolicited advice. We have the right to make many poor decisions.
The question is should a parent in general more and more step back from advice giving to their children as their children get older? The answer I believe is clearly, yes.
Many parents destroy or greatly damage their relationship with their older children by refusing to accept them as emerging adults or current adults. As their children start careers and raise their own children parents often refuse to take a back seat.
It is an irony because often many years ago the parents themselves had felt great frustration and tension with their parents who refused to step back. Now they do the same thing and justify their actions as that they know better now and wish to help their children.
Of course the reality is they repeat the error their parents made and use wisdom as an excuse. True wisdom is understanding that children become adults and children who are adults are not clones of their parents.
They have their own ideas on certain issues and reasons for those beliefs. Parents who do not pull back on unsolicited advice to their adult children do not help their children. They simply disrespect their adult children on topics there is disagreement on.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Being Willing to Make Mistakes
As Christians we need to be willing to make mistakes. We can sometimes become paralyzed with what is the right course of action and thus fail to act.
We should always be thoughtful people overall, but our thought should help action rather than hinder it. Often you see that fear or over thought which causes inaction is based on a lack of a full understanding of the gospel.
Maybe we do not entirely trust that God will forgive us as he promises if we sin and do not understand that we are already a part of his family.
An over consciousness on righteousness that loses sight of love is a loss of balance in Christian theology. Love is of most importance in the Christian life.
A theology such of that of the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day which lost love because of an uselessness for righteousness is a perfect example of theology gone wrong.
Love and righteousness are linked. A righteousness which hinders acting in love is actually not righteousness at all, but rather a sinful disposition or lack of faith.
We should always be thoughtful people overall, but our thought should help action rather than hinder it. Often you see that fear or over thought which causes inaction is based on a lack of a full understanding of the gospel.
Maybe we do not entirely trust that God will forgive us as he promises if we sin and do not understand that we are already a part of his family.
An over consciousness on righteousness that loses sight of love is a loss of balance in Christian theology. Love is of most importance in the Christian life.
A theology such of that of the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day which lost love because of an uselessness for righteousness is a perfect example of theology gone wrong.
Love and righteousness are linked. A righteousness which hinders acting in love is actually not righteousness at all, but rather a sinful disposition or lack of faith.
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