A Balanced Life

In past posts, I have recounted how the Red Shouldered Hawk in our back yard reminded me of being patient, how the Tomato Hornworm that stripped my tomato plants taught me about diligence, and how the White-Tailed Deer that lounge in our back yard while their young fawns cavort prompts me to reflect on the joys of living. These three virtues are part of a balanced life in Christ and can be seen in three Christians from history.

William Carey was a patient man. Today, he is honored as the “father of modern missions,” but during his lifetime, his legacy was not so sure. A self-taught man, Carey became concerned about the obligation of missionary work through reading an account of David Brainerd’s work among the Native Americans in Massachusetts. He founded what would become the Baptist Missionary Society in England and began raising funds to travel to India. Working first as a factory manager and later as a university professor, Carey evangelized, translated the New Testament into Bengali and Sanskrit, and hoped for converts. After nearly a decade in India, Carey saw the first and only convert from his efforts, a Hindu man named Krishna Pal. He labored over 40 years, patiently waiting for the harvest of souls that would one day come.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a diligent man. While not very well known today, M’Cheyne was an important minister in the Church of Scotland in the first half of the 19^th century. He kept a watch in his pocket with the face painted over, displaying John 9:4, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” He worked ceaselessly among his parishioners, developing a popular Bible reading scheme to help them learn God’s word, and in promoting missions in the Holy Land. Spurred by his need to accomplish much for God, he worked himself to exhaustion and poor health, dying at the age of 29.

C.S. Lewis was a man noted for his joy. In his youth, Lewis considered himself a staunch atheist. However, over the years, one thing gnawed at Lewis – the elusive experience of joy. As he would later write, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Atheism simply could not account for this desire in his life, so in his search, he turned to Christianity. It was in Christ that Lewis came to know that God equaled his highest joy. Joy became a theme of his life and writings. From The Chronicles of Narnia to Surprised by Joy, joy in God and the world He created was a recurrent influence. He believed that the Christian’s best days are always in front of him, not behind. Thus, however dark the days, they could always be faced with the joy of Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” Patience, diligence, and joy are just three of the many virtues of a balanced life. Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about a balanced life. Two of my favorite passages from that book are Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 and 12:13-14.

Go, eat your bread with enjoyment and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has long ago approved what you do. Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.  Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might.

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

These two passages speak directly to finding joy in life, working diligently, and waiting patiently for God’s judgment – a balanced life.