I’ve been thinking about balance lately. You know, that unicorn called a “balanced life.” It seems that finding the right balance in family, work, recreation, current events, and so on is just so hard. So I’m thinking and writing about it. Maybe that will help.
But before that, I want to think out loud about balance in another area of life. The spiritual life. And specifically the eternal aspect of balance.
Most of us are familiar with the scales of justice, as seen in the photo in this post. Wikipedia says, “The scales represent the weighing of evidence, and the scales lack a foundation in order to signify that evidence should stand on its own.” Lady Justice is depicted holding scales.
Many people think that God will use scales at the end of our lives to judge whether we get into heaven or not. If our good works/deeds outweigh the sins we’ve committed, we get in and have eternal bliss. If, on the other hand, our sins outweigh our good works/deeds, then we come up short and are shut out of heaven.
But that’s not how the Holy Scriptures say it works. In fact, just the opposite. The scriptures say that no matter how many “good works” we perform in our lifetimes, we will still come up short.
God has said that in order to be right with him, we must be perfect, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Only God is perfect and 100% righteous. It’s self evident that you and I are not perfect, right? Who has ever lived without doing something wrong, like lying, cheating, or lusting for example? No one has. The bible says that we all are in a world of hurt. Romans 3 says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (vv. 10–12)
When we can agree with God that we are all sinners, then we are open to God’s remedy. Jesus. God’s only son came into the world and he lived a perfect life and died on the cross, being raised from the dead after three days, to pay for the sins of people just like you and me.
This is fantastic news! The bible calls it the gospel. Gospel means “good news.” The greatest news is that Jesus substituted in the place of sinners like us to do what we could never do — satisfy God’s requirement of perfection. The bible says it this way:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…”
Jesus Christ balances the scales for us. That’s the most important balance we need. That’s the balance that has eternal consequences.
John 3:16, with which we are all familiar, says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
So how do we get this most important balance? Again, the bible has the good news of how we get this balance:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36
Believe in Jesus. Faith! The Two Ways to Live article says,
If we turn to God and ask for forgiveness, trusting in Jesus as the resurrected ruler and savior, then everything changes…God wipes the slate clean. He accepts Jesus’ death as payment for our sinful rebellion, and freely and completely forgives us. He pours his own Spirit into our hearts and gives us a new life that stretches past death and into eternity.
Two Ways to Live again:
The first thing to do is simply to talk to God. Admit to him that you have rebelled against him and deserve punishment, and ask him for forgiveness on the basis of Jesus’ death in your place. Ask God to help you change from being a rebel to being someone who lives with Jesus as their ruler. You could pray something like this:
Dear God,
I know that I am not worthy to be accepted by you. I don’t deserve your gift of eternal life. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I’m sorry, and I need your forgiveness.
Thank you for sending your Son to die for me so that I may be forgiven. Thank you that he rose from the dead to give me new life.
Please forgive me and change me, so that I may live with Jesus as my ruler. Amen.”
You want balance in your life? In your family life? Work? Finances? etc.? All of that is very important to be sure. But you can be one of the best balanced people ever and die in an unbalanced spiritual condition and miss God altogether.
Consider your spiritual condition today. You have no promise of tomorrow. If you want to talk about these things, please reach out. I’d love to have the conversation.
