The Christian life is about striking a balance in many areas of life. For example, Scripture clearly teaches both man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty in salvation. Can we fully explain that from a human perspective, no, but we must maintain that theological balance.

But balance must not only be present in our theological inquiry, it must color our daily lives. After all, if our theology is not practically affecting our lives then our approach must be questioned. The idea of balance is not one that comes naturally to most of us; we are people of extremes. It’s much easier to push something to the extreme than to strive for a balance. I see this with many young guys struggling to work through Systematics. Once a particular position is adopted it’s common to simply swipe the others off the table because they’re automatically entirely wrong, rather than struggling to import helpful elements from them as well for a fuller theological truth. It’s easier to push one thing than it is to balance two.

But Christians cannot escape the idea of balance. The image of a tight-rope walker continually comes to mind as we read prayers that God’s people would “turn neither to the left nor to the right” (Joshua 23:6), but that we would “fix our eyes” on God’s way (Psalm 119:15). The idea of balance appears in places that we might never consider having to strive for it. For example, Psalm 115:1 reads:

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

The key here is the key to much of Scripture and the Christian life: God’s faithfulness (1 Corinthians 10:13, etc.) It was God, not Abram who passed through the pieces visibly teaching of God’s faithfulness (Genesis 15). We are to ensure that glory goes not to us but to God because God is faithful. Our souls know it well and our lives prove it over and over, but how quickly we forget.

Even this verse presents a delicate balance that is often hard to maintain. It’s much easier to sing God’s faithfulness when things are going well. But think of the good times, even while we recognize God’s faithfulness, we subtly and sometimes even subconsciously reject the first part and we begin to say “To us be the glory,” because “look how good things are going for me.” Yes, God is faithful, but I’ve done pretty well, haven’t I?

The reverse is also true. We’re very quick to agree “Not to us, O Lord” when the storm appears, but truth be told, it’s because we don’t want responsibility for the rough waters that lie ahead. It’s in these times that we most often find ourselves doubting God’s faithflness isn’t it? When things aren’t going as we think they should.

Both scenarios present extremes, and neither are Biblical. We must strive for that balance of giving glory to God and recognizing His faithfulness both in what we perceive to be the good times and the bad, though even those are subjective judgments. If God is faithful (and He is), then He is always faithful and we must not only recognize so in our heads, we must live so in our hearts.

We often joke about “fair weather friends,” but do we realize that we are often exactly that to God? It takes balance to trust Him always. Always, not just when the sun shines on our souls, but even in the dark of night, God is good and He is faithful and we should sing “Not to us, not to us O Lord, but to your name give glory.”

There’s a reson that shows such as Survivor or Fear Factor often feature acts of balance. It’s because balance is something so few of us have mastered. Whether it be the relationship between conscience and liberty, sovereignty and responsibility or praise in the good and the bad. We must pray for balance in all these areas and more, because, sooner or later, without balance, we will all fall.