A Question of Balance

I have spoken up more than once in favor of balance. I do not regret this. But I believe there are different kinds of balance. There is the balance that merely meets somewhere in the middle and tries not to be too excited about anything. This is a position that seeks moderation for moderation's sake. But there is another type of balance, which is advocated by G. K. Chesterton, that consists in the holding on to both extremes and letting each have their proper place.

I am convinced that the heart of this is to be found in the gospel. In the gospel we are faced with God's love and grace and with God's holiness and justice, both in the extreme. We might want to think of some middle ground, where God was just but His justice was somewhat tempered with mercy, and we had to live up to this moderate moral standard. But He is so just that He demands perfection (Matthew 5:48; James 2:10; 1 John 1:5), but so loving that He gave His Son to offer salvation as a free gift (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:6-8; 3:21-26). He calls those who put their faith in Him to make the goal conformity to the image of His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29,30; 1 Peter 1:14-17), but to do so in the context of grace and security (Romans 8:31-39; 5:1,2; Hebrews 13:5). We are told that this is all based on God's work in us (Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:29; 2 Peter 1:3), but we are to put out every effort to bring it about in our lives (Hebrews 12:1,2; 5:11-14; 1 Timothy 4:7,8). We are to recognize ourselves as sinners and humble ourselves before God (1 John 1:8-10; James 4:6-10; Proverbs 1:7), but are encouraged to rejoice even in difficult times because of what God has done for us (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; John 16:33). We are to stand firmly for the truth (Jude 3; Romans 16:17,18; 2 Timothy 4:1-4), but  to do so in love (2 Timothy 2:24-26; 1 Peter 3:15; Galatians 6:1).  

However, it makes us nervous to grasp both extremes and have them come together to define us. It seems so much easier to find a nice safe place in the middle that is comfortable and does not demand too much from us. But to live out the truth of God I am convinced we need a wild balance rather than a tame balance. So that we might incorporate the right extremes into our lives, not by doing everything in a moderate, reserved way, but by giving every good thing its appropriate importance. 

A Touch of Humor - Evaluation of the Celebration

What is a good way to celebrate the new year? What constitutes a good way to celebrate something?

Old Erich Proverbs - Resolutions

To really carry out a resolution to change, we need not just will power but God's power.

A Voice from the Past - Chesterton

Indeed the Church from its beginnings, and perhaps especially in its beginnings, was not so much a principality as a revolution against the prince of the world. This sense that the world has been conquered by the great usurper, and was in his possession, has been much deplored or derided by those optimists who identify enlightenment with ease. But it was responsible for all that thrill of defiance and a beautiful danger that made the good news seem to be really both good and new.

G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, The Everlasting Man, The God in the Cave (Dover Publications, 2007, p. 176)

Is this how the Christian faith is to be viewed, as a revolution? How does this affect our approach to it?

The Rest of the Year

It is asked how we can make the spirit of Christmas last the rest of the year. Christians particularly may ask this. But is it just a piece of wishful thinking? Or is it somehow possible? Now much of what people want to continue is rooted in good feelings. I have nothing against good feelings. But good feelings by themselves are not enough to make a permanent change work. We see it in the other departments of life. A couple falls in love; then they get married and settle down. And they find they need more than just good feelings to make the marriage work. Or a Christian goes to a retreat or a series of special meetings and feels really pumped up to live for God. And then, as they go back to their everyday life, their feelings fade and vanish. The problem is that all feelings, over time, tend to vanish. They can point out the direction that needs to be taken. But it takes something else to get us there. It takes commitment. Or does it?

Commitment in its own place is a good thing, but it is often equated with sheer will power. And anyone who has ever made a New Year's resolution knows how well that works. We grit our teeth and decide we are going to gut it out. Occasionally, particularly on the minor things, it seems to work. But more often then not, we fail and fall flat on our face. Then we try to drum up more will power, and we still fail. And if we work long enough and hard enough, we can, at least for a while, convince ourselves we are succeeding. But in doing so we can set ourselves up to fail spectacularly. And even if we manage to hold it together, we will feel exhausted and worn down on the inside from the stress of maintaining this level of control.

Which brings me back to the meaning of Christmas. The meaning of Christmas is not just some vague message of cheer and good will. The meaning of Christmas is that, when our good feelings fail, when our will power is not enough, God steps in. When we were sinners and disobedient to God (Romans 3:23; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9), God became a man to redeem us (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:9-18). As a result of this, God forgives (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13,14; 1 Peter 2:24,25) and begins to work in the lives (2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:13) of those who put their faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:4,5; Philippians 3:9). And it is as we look to Him that we obtain a meaning for Christmas that is lasting, even for the rest of the year.  

A Virgin Will Conceive - Isaiah 7:10-14

What We Really Needed

The most common way to water down the teaching of Jesus is to try to make Him a moral philosopher advocating a new moral system. To do so is to make Him irrelevant.  Now do not get me wrong; because I am convinced Jesus is the Son of God, I believe He put forth the perfect moral system. That means that where He differs from other moral systems, He is correct in His answers. But this amounts to deciding the details. The broad principles of morality are agreed upon by various moral systems. Yes, there are differences. There may even be the occasional case where a specific group has gone completely out of the way. But what we have is what you would expect in a fallen world where God revealed His moral principles in the beginning, but people have since tried to forget and distort them. The problem is, it is hard to believe that getting every detail exactly right in our moral code is all we need to do to produce a truly moral society. We need, not just a minor course correction, but a major reorienting of our lives. We do not need a new standard, but a new capability to meet the standard. If Jesus was just a moral philosopher, even if He was the great or correct one, we would simply put Him on the shelf with Socrates and Confucius and other similar practitioners. And He would only be pulled out occasionally, to check His opinion on a particularly interesting controversy or to supply an occasional inspirational quote.

In Jesus' own time, they had plenty of moral philosophers, and one more would have been lost in the crowd. The Jews had a long list of significant rabbis. The Greeks and Romans had a long list of philosophers. Why would one more example of the same be any more more than an interesting footnote in history? One more book to put on the shelf. It is interesting that hardly anyone at the time regarded Him that way (there may have been a few break-offs that held to something like this, but they are so obscure we know little about them). Even some of the earliest pagan observers characterized Christians as worshiping Jesus as God. Which brings us to what we really need. We do not need another great moral teacher. We have already broken the teachings of the great moral teachers we have. As C. S. Lewis points out, even if Jesus is the perfect teacher, that does not help us. If we have already flunked mathematics, how will it help to be taught calculus? What we need is for God to come down and pay the price for our failures to keep the moral law, that we might be forgiven. Then we need God to work in our lives to begin to make us more like what the standard requires. Nothing else can meet our real need with a real response.