“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." —Proverbs 11:1
Preaching about the need to maintain balance and harmony in life has never been too easy. This is because we are all different in many ways; in fact, no two persons are identical in terms of behavioral, emotional and psychological makeup. How then do we live together in harmony despite this various dichotomies? Proverbs 16:11 states that: "A just weight and balance is the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are His work." This means that all things are God's and that He is and must always be the standard by which we measure everything. He and His character are true balance. It follows further, that when we are looking forward to creating harmony and balance, the standard to be employed are God’s principles for creating harmony and balance. Perhaps, you may just be wondering why it is so necessary to create harmony in life. FIRST, you must understand that the world is in balance; everything in the world is held together harmoniously by the word of God – the eternal essence of God which became flesh in Jesus Christ. The harmony and balance created by the word of God is the reason we are alive today. Its also the reason the sun, the moon, the stars are held in balance and none of is falling off or destroying another. In the same breath, we are expected to maintain balance and harmony of the body and of the mind, as well as living together in peace and harmony in our family and in the world. If we maintain harmony of body and mind, then we are well and healthy. Diseases are drastically reduced. If we maintain harmony in our relationships and in our families, peace and fellowship will reign while deaths and other negative spirits will be neutralized. Everything about God outweighs any capability, talent, capacity, or knowledge we have in comparison to Him. In order to measure up to the standard required of us by God, we have to work or express ourselves within the bounds of God’s word and His eternal principles. The scripture is telling us today that as God expects scales and balances to be used with fairness and equity, so too is His way of life. However, the question remains: What is a balanced way of life?
1. We must live in harmony with God’s word. In the words and experiences of man within the pages of the Bible, God has given us a blueprint of how and how not to do things. We see the successes and the failures, the ups and the downs, the heroes and the heathens, all written for our edification and development.
2. We must live in harmony with times and seasons. The scripture says there is time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3)
3. Ensure that there is peace and understanding in marriage and family circles. Forgiveness is the key to family peace and harmony.
4. Live among others and expressing love and peace all the time. We must live among those God has not called, work for unconverted bosses to provide for our families, send our children to the world's educational facilities without sacrificing our relationship with God and our efforts to build strong marriages and raise godly children, while also remaining unspotted from this world (James 1:27).
Beloved, none of us is the same. We have different backgrounds, education, and experiences, but God overcomes these differences. Balance is putting into action those things that are God-centered and God-inspired and refusing to do those that are selfish and unhelpful. We come to balance when we understand, accept, and fulfill our God-given roles in life. When we realize that God is the final, just, and faithful Standard and Arbiter of all things—that His way is the balanced way of life—we have found Christian balance, and we will consistently make proper, godly decisions.