Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:25 ESV
The psalmist’s prayer to God… some may say he’s sounding a bit unbalanced… a little too far gone when it comes to his relationship with God…
After all… the world… even the ad on the Christian radio station I heard this morning… says we are to have balanced lives…
Balanced between… work… family… church… and don’t forget time for yourself…
But is this the life God calls us to…?
“Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ …”
Mark 12:28-29 ESV
Is a balanced life the life Jesus modeled…?
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8 ESV
No… I don’t think so…
Paul in his teaching to the church says…
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1Corinthians 11:1 ESV
Unbalanced…
In Christ… we are called to have wholly unbalanced lives… in order to be holy…
Balance is a lie… we… (disciples… followers… of Jesus…) are to have fully surrendered lives…
All in… sold out to God and His Way… that is the only way… to follow Him…
This is what is at the heart of Jesus telling the young man with all the wealth to sell everything he had and follow Him… (Luke 18:18-23)
It is what lies behind Jesus saying… If you don’t hate your mother… brothers… sisters… father… even yourself… you… can’t… follow… Me… (Luke 14:26)
I think about a friend in her nineties… she wonders why she’s still here… she’s ready for God to take her… but when she speaks of heaven… she always mentions seeing her husband first… Hmmm…
Whom have I in heaven but You…?
The rich young man walked away sad… at what Jesus said… he was looking for balance… not discipleship…
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You…
I wonder if the psalmist’s words are true of me…? true for you…?
Where is your heart invested…?
Is it divided…? or wholeheartedly invested in Him…?
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26 ESV
The craziness is… when we willingly sell out for Him… we gain everything… and MORE… than we could ever imagine in return…
The world says… Be balanced…
But God says… Just Me…
The call to follow Jesus is a wholly unbalanced call…
A call to be… holy unbalanced…
[Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash]
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