Balancing Act

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:1-17

Of course I've read this before but today this speaks really loudly to me. Lately I've struggled with a battle I think we all struggle with at some point in our lives; balance. I also know that at least 50% (ok, probably more) of the time I'm going about this struggle all wrong. I'm somehow trying to balance God among the other things of life such as church, work, parenting, family, friends, diet/health- the list could just go on and on, when I know nothing balances with God. He is the scale to balance with. 

If I would just take these scriptures (and of course the rest of the Bible too ;-) ) and apply them ALL the time, this issue with balance I perceive I have would be no more. Since I know I have been raised with Christ, my heart should be set on things above-all the time, not just when I remember or when it's convenient. My thoughts should be focused on the things above, not earthly things. If this were the case for me I would not be worried about things such as a job, or what other people think, or why I'm still single (haha, if you know me, you know I truly don't worry about this so much) or a laundry list of other things that capture my thoughts day in and day out. If I truly took these words to heart, my life and everything in it should point directly to Christ and all of his promises. There should be an obvious difference between my desires and those of people around me who are unbelievers. There are in some areas, but could I say all?

These scriptures provide lists of things we are required to walk away from. Things that may have been a part of our former life, but that we are to die from now. Things such as sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. There should also be continual growth not only in my faith, but in knowledge. The more I know about God, the closer I become to him, the more I willingly let him mold me to be more like him.

And then some of the tougher stuff at least for me. Questions arise such as where then is the line for when to let go of a person or situation and when do I "clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience"? Forgiving as the Lord forgives us? Having unity with those who have done us wrong? (Lord knows this can be a struggle.) And especially among fellow believers, which I think is what is being referred to here. Sometimes it seems these are the hurts that cut the deepest. Maybe because we expect more? And don't for a minute think I exclude myself from the group that needs to be forgiven. No way! I'm just as guilty of hurting others as the next guy, maybe more, depending on the day.

However I do long for the unity through love, spoken about in verse 14. This unity, this love would be, should be so healing. These verses tell us we were called to this peace, so why is it not happening? What am I missing that I should be doing? 

Verse 17 says "And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." 

Word, deed, thoughts, music, movies, books, work, ministries, parenting, friendships, relationships, worship, dieting- EVERYTHING we do.

Set your heart and mind on the things above... do it in the name of Jesus, giving thanks!

No need to balance that.