A Life Out of Balance
2 Corinthians 8:8-15 (NRSV)
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Too much of a good thing?". This phrase actually speaks of balance, and that too much of a good thing can actually be bad. Today, many have forgotten phrases like "too much of a good thing." We often don't realize that too much of a good thing may be bad, and too much of the bad also can not be good. Life is a balance between forces in your life, and when you lose your balance, everything will fall apart. It is just a matter of time.
Twenty years ago, there were several shark attacks in Hawaii. In each case, the unmistakable stripes on the shark determined that all were caused by tiger sharks. So, a commission in Hawaii decided that this was probably caused by too many tiger sharks being too close to shore around humans. Their decision? Kill all the tiger sharks in the area. For several years, tiger sharks were killed by the dozens. But something happened. You'd think that after killing the biggest sharks there would be a lot more fish for fishermen, right? Wrong. Without having tiger sharks around, other species of predators and smaller sharks became overpopulated. Within years, the fish started to disappear. Fishermen had to go miles and miles out of the way to just find good schools of fish. In fact, fishermen were going bankrupt. In the end, the commission figured out they had made a mistake. In their political decision to kill off the big sharks, they did great harm to the balance of the ocean's ecosystem. And everyone suffered.
That's just it. When we don't take care of the earth, our world and its environmental systems suffer. When we don't take care of our bodies, they suffer, too. When our lives go out of balance, our minds do not think straight. Life should teach us that balance is important, but so often, we don't want to see it.
Look at nature and you see this perfect God-ordained balance. In order for animals to survive, the water can't be too acidic. In order for a good harvest, there must be both sunshine and rain. In order for us to survive, the air we breathe must contain the right elements or we suffer, suffocate, or get sick. As another example, one scientist said that if the earth was only a few thousand more miles closer to the sun or a few thousand more miles further away, life would die off quickly. Even our earth is in a perfect balance to support our life. We need to learn these lessons for ourselves. God is teaching us all something here!
In Psalm 8, King David noted how God so wonderfully and perfectly placed the stars into heaven. Solomon, who was called the wisest man of all time, wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes : "the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other." Solomon knew that at creation, animals and humans were introduced to this world to complement each other. They depend on each other for survival. Life is a balance. God made it that way.
But in our world, things can go out of balance. A person might spend too much, and then work too hard to make up that debt. Another might be so miserly with her money that she does not buy the right things, but only the cheapest. Some people get too much food. Others don't get enough exercise. For some, life has been too hard. For others, their soft life has wrecked them. I find it interesting that kids who are brought up in a wealthy home often have a problem with balance. They can want too many things… they want too much power…. They expect to be treated better. And people brought up in poverty make up most of the al-Qaeda network. In their poverty, they found a home in a repressive and deadly form of Islam. Too much or too little of just about anything can be detrimental.
In one church I served, there was a man who had three jobs. He had two kids, a wife, and a large family. He was always busy. His car was hardly ever home. One day, I saw him out in front of his house, and stopped to talk. As we talked, I asked him why he had three jobs. "I need to support my family, don't I Pastor?" Of course that was true. But then I said, "Do you have to work every day, even Sundays, even holidays, and leave one job only to go to another. Your kids don't hardly see you, and how can you have time for yourself and for God?" He looked and me and smiled and said, "I can do it all, Pastor. I get around to it." I told him bluntly, "Don't do this to yourself and your family. God even took a day off and expects us to do the same, and to worship Him on that day off." The sermon was over. I could tell his eyes were glazing over, so I changed the subject. Four months later, the man was arrested on drug charges. It seems that to counter his unbalanced life, he would take drugs to help him to cope. And so for two years, his family was without him as he finally got his balance…. in a jail cell.
If you lack balance in your life, you will undoubtedly pay for it one way or another. When you lose balance in your life and spend too much, eat too little, drink too much, are too alone, take too little time for yourself, find too little time for prayer, sit too many hours in front of the TV, play too many hours in video games, enjoy too much time partying…. your life will suffer. It will come back to haunt you. Maybe it is today?
In 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is explaining something to the church people in Corinth. He notes that God has given some of the people in the church extra money to help those who are in dire need. At the time of this writing, a famine had struck the holy land, especially Jerusalem. The apostle Paul asked several of his churches to help out. Their riches helped the poor who were suffering from the famine in Jerusalem. And thus the balance was maintained. Those with much were helping those who were hurting. Today, I wish it were the same. All over the world today, the balance of rich helping poor is not happening. The whole world is out of balance, causing wars, suffering, fighting, abuse, and neglect.
As part of our prayer life, we need often to take a look at our lives and make sure they remain in balance as God intended. Are you working too many hours? How does it make you suffer? Do you eat fast food because you don't have time? How will that affect your heart? Are you hurried all the time? Do you always have to help others? Can't you ever say no? Are you spending enough time with your family? Do you and your spouse spend enough time together? Do you feel rushed when you pray? When is the last time you prayed or really spent time worshiping God? All these questions are about balance in your life.
God has intended that we all should find that perfect balance in what we do. If you are finding that you can't sleep, or that the family fights too much, or maybe that you aren't as close to God or to your friends as you used to be, maybe something is out of whack in your family life or your spiritual life. If you've worked too hard, take a vacation. That's a good time to sort out your values. If you are lazy, spend some time helping others by working at the food pantry, volunteering at the hospital, or such. You might find that helping others will keep you from loneliness or wasting your life away. If you have extra money, find missions to support or ways to help others as Paul wrote about here in scripture. It will do your heart a wonder to see your money feed, clothe, teach, and bring life to others.
I close with a story of a woman who was a little too busy in her life. Week after week, she worked a little too much. The family and life were getting to her. She woke up one day and was in a daze. She went about her routine. She brushed her teeth, made some breakfast, then Barbara Robinson of Sudbury, Massachusetts took her vitamin pills. But, being half in a daze, she accidentally took the pills the vet had prescribed for her dog instead. The husband figured it out afterward and called the veterinarian. The vet said the pills wouldn't hurt her. Of course, the husband was worried. The AP interviewed him and all he could say was "I know the vet says she should be OK, but wouldn't it be nice if I could teach her a few tricks like sit and stay and stop barking!"
When life gets out of whack, all kinds of things can happen! Talk to God any time that you feel life is moving too quickly, bad things are happening too often, or life might even be too much of a good thing. God will show you how to bring your life back into balance… that is if you have time to listen!
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Too much of a good thing?". This phrase actually speaks of balance, and that too much of a good thing can actually be bad. Today, many have forgotten phrases like "too much of a good thing." We often don't realize that too much of a good thing may be bad, and too much of the bad also can not be good. Life is a balance between forces in your life, and when you lose your balance, everything will fall apart. It is just a matter of time.
Twenty years ago, there were several shark attacks in Hawaii. In each case, the unmistakable stripes on the shark determined that all were caused by tiger sharks. So, a commission in Hawaii decided that this was probably caused by too many tiger sharks being too close to shore around humans. Their decision? Kill all the tiger sharks in the area. For several years, tiger sharks were killed by the dozens. But something happened. You'd think that after killing the biggest sharks there would be a lot more fish for fishermen, right? Wrong. Without having tiger sharks around, other species of predators and smaller sharks became overpopulated. Within years, the fish started to disappear. Fishermen had to go miles and miles out of the way to just find good schools of fish. In fact, fishermen were going bankrupt. In the end, the commission figured out they had made a mistake. In their political decision to kill off the big sharks, they did great harm to the balance of the ocean's ecosystem. And everyone suffered.
That's just it. When we don't take care of the earth, our world and its environmental systems suffer. When we don't take care of our bodies, they suffer, too. When our lives go out of balance, our minds do not think straight. Life should teach us that balance is important, but so often, we don't want to see it.
Look at nature and you see this perfect God-ordained balance. In order for animals to survive, the water can't be too acidic. In order for a good harvest, there must be both sunshine and rain. In order for us to survive, the air we breathe must contain the right elements or we suffer, suffocate, or get sick. As another example, one scientist said that if the earth was only a few thousand more miles closer to the sun or a few thousand more miles further away, life would die off quickly. Even our earth is in a perfect balance to support our life. We need to learn these lessons for ourselves. God is teaching us all something here!
In Psalm 8, King David noted how God so wonderfully and perfectly placed the stars into heaven. Solomon, who was called the wisest man of all time, wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes : "the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other." Solomon knew that at creation, animals and humans were introduced to this world to complement each other. They depend on each other for survival. Life is a balance. God made it that way.
But in our world, things can go out of balance. A person might spend too much, and then work too hard to make up that debt. Another might be so miserly with her money that she does not buy the right things, but only the cheapest. Some people get too much food. Others don't get enough exercise. For some, life has been too hard. For others, their soft life has wrecked them. I find it interesting that kids who are brought up in a wealthy home often have a problem with balance. They can want too many things… they want too much power…. They expect to be treated better. And people brought up in poverty make up most of the al-Qaeda network. In their poverty, they found a home in a repressive and deadly form of Islam. Too much or too little of just about anything can be detrimental.
In one church I served, there was a man who had three jobs. He had two kids, a wife, and a large family. He was always busy. His car was hardly ever home. One day, I saw him out in front of his house, and stopped to talk. As we talked, I asked him why he had three jobs. "I need to support my family, don't I Pastor?" Of course that was true. But then I said, "Do you have to work every day, even Sundays, even holidays, and leave one job only to go to another. Your kids don't hardly see you, and how can you have time for yourself and for God?" He looked and me and smiled and said, "I can do it all, Pastor. I get around to it." I told him bluntly, "Don't do this to yourself and your family. God even took a day off and expects us to do the same, and to worship Him on that day off." The sermon was over. I could tell his eyes were glazing over, so I changed the subject. Four months later, the man was arrested on drug charges. It seems that to counter his unbalanced life, he would take drugs to help him to cope. And so for two years, his family was without him as he finally got his balance…. in a jail cell.
If you lack balance in your life, you will undoubtedly pay for it one way or another. When you lose balance in your life and spend too much, eat too little, drink too much, are too alone, take too little time for yourself, find too little time for prayer, sit too many hours in front of the TV, play too many hours in video games, enjoy too much time partying…. your life will suffer. It will come back to haunt you. Maybe it is today?
In 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is explaining something to the church people in Corinth. He notes that God has given some of the people in the church extra money to help those who are in dire need. At the time of this writing, a famine had struck the holy land, especially Jerusalem. The apostle Paul asked several of his churches to help out. Their riches helped the poor who were suffering from the famine in Jerusalem. And thus the balance was maintained. Those with much were helping those who were hurting. Today, I wish it were the same. All over the world today, the balance of rich helping poor is not happening. The whole world is out of balance, causing wars, suffering, fighting, abuse, and neglect.
As part of our prayer life, we need often to take a look at our lives and make sure they remain in balance as God intended. Are you working too many hours? How does it make you suffer? Do you eat fast food because you don't have time? How will that affect your heart? Are you hurried all the time? Do you always have to help others? Can't you ever say no? Are you spending enough time with your family? Do you and your spouse spend enough time together? Do you feel rushed when you pray? When is the last time you prayed or really spent time worshiping God? All these questions are about balance in your life.
God has intended that we all should find that perfect balance in what we do. If you are finding that you can't sleep, or that the family fights too much, or maybe that you aren't as close to God or to your friends as you used to be, maybe something is out of whack in your family life or your spiritual life. If you've worked too hard, take a vacation. That's a good time to sort out your values. If you are lazy, spend some time helping others by working at the food pantry, volunteering at the hospital, or such. You might find that helping others will keep you from loneliness or wasting your life away. If you have extra money, find missions to support or ways to help others as Paul wrote about here in scripture. It will do your heart a wonder to see your money feed, clothe, teach, and bring life to others.
I close with a story of a woman who was a little too busy in her life. Week after week, she worked a little too much. The family and life were getting to her. She woke up one day and was in a daze. She went about her routine. She brushed her teeth, made some breakfast, then Barbara Robinson of Sudbury, Massachusetts took her vitamin pills. But, being half in a daze, she accidentally took the pills the vet had prescribed for her dog instead. The husband figured it out afterward and called the veterinarian. The vet said the pills wouldn't hurt her. Of course, the husband was worried. The AP interviewed him and all he could say was "I know the vet says she should be OK, but wouldn't it be nice if I could teach her a few tricks like sit and stay and stop barking!"
When life gets out of whack, all kinds of things can happen! Talk to God any time that you feel life is moving too quickly, bad things are happening too often, or life might even be too much of a good thing. God will show you how to bring your life back into balance… that is if you have time to listen!