Have you ever lost your balance and fallen? Or have you seen someone lose their balance and fall? Maybe you got dizzy after an amusement park ride and the world was spinning for a while. It was hard to stay upright and balanced. I think the same thing can happen in life.

We can be bombarded with input from all directions to attempt to persuade us to think or act a certain way. Some people are convinced that their position is right and you should agree with them right now! That can put pressure on you to conform to a certain way of thinking. It could be a position about social injustice, religious views, morality, ethics, education, parenting or any number of topics.

I believe it is always better to be balanced in your thoughts and beliefs. I want to let you in on my journey to living a Balanced, Biblical Life.

BALANCED VS. NEUTRAL

Let’s first of all clear up a common misunderstanding about being balanced. “Balanced” does not mean “neutral.”

One definition of “neutral” is this: not aligned with or supporting any side or position in a controversy. When a vehicle is placed in neutral, no power is delivered to the wheels to go either forward or backward. If a country, like Switzerland, is declared by international law to be permanently neutral, that country will not take sides in any future wars in the world.

Neutral is a very passive, boring place to be. Neutral people want to make sure everybody is happy and that they are not disliked by anyone. Neutral people don’t want any controversy.

Well, I would prefer that everybody liked me, too. And I don’t like conflict or turmoil either. But, I don’t want to be neutral. I don’t want to fade into the background like a beige throw pillow. I don’t want to be afraid to take a stand on important issues of debate about life.

Jesus certainly wasn’t neutral. He willingly took strong positions that were at odds with the religious traditions of the day. They weren’t at odds with the truth – just the traditions. Religious people got so mad at Jesus they tried to kill Him on numerous occasions.

Balanced living simply means taking a stand based on all the information available. Balanced means having strong opinions based on all the facts. If you want to know my positions on hot-button issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, different ways to heaven, the philosophies of “everything happens for a reason” or “But, God made me this way,” Holy Spirit activity and others, I won’t hesitate to tell you what I believe and why.

Balanced living also means staying away from extreme positions. When my Dad taught me to drive, he took me out to the dirt, back roads in Oklahoma. There were ditches on both sides to handle the storm water drainage. My goal was to stay on the road and out of the ditches! I hope I am able to do that in my personal life also.

But there is a key to staying balanced, out of the ditch and definitely not neutral. And that’s what I’ll reveal in my next post called Balanced Biblical Living – Part 2.

How can balanced living help you in your daily life? How does being balanced, yet taking a firm stand on your beliefs play out in real life?