BALANCE!

A few months ago, when my brother and his family were down in Dallas, my nephew John and I took a Segway tour of Dallas. Fun! (No, those longhorns aren’t real!)

Segways, for the uninitiated, are these two-wheeled, self-balancing gizmos. By leaning forward gently (you only have to think of leaning forward!) the thing rolls forward. You lean back (or think of doing so!) and it stops. It reads your mind! Perfect balance! When you lean forward, balance is upset and the thingamajig rolls forward to fix the problem. Of course, you are still leaning forward, so the device also keeps rolling forward, faster if you lean more, slower if less. All adjusted by the onboard computers, five gyroscopes, and two tilt sensors. And these adjustments occur about 100 times a second. Yes, it was a great way to tour downtown. In perfect balance!

I was thinking about this the other day in my preaching class, when we were discussing the importance of finishing our sermons on time. That homiletical discussion got off on to a pastoral tangent about discipline in life (including planning well enough and being prepared enough to know when your sermon will end). Orderliness in life. We spent the good part of an hour on a most productive give-and-take.

All kinds of things make demands on our lives. All kinds of needs press upon us calling upon us to meet them. All kinds of situations require our attention. Some of these are legitimate. Many are not. We must be wise about our time and on what we spend it.

Therefore be careful how you walk,
not as unwise men but as wise,
making the most of your time ….
Ephesians 5:15–16

If we aren’t careful about balance, we fritter away our days on things that may not be ours to attend to, on needs that may not be ours to respond to, on situations that may not be ours to engage with. Balance gets upset. And life becomes chaotic and disorderly.

But all things must be done
properly and in an orderly manner.
… for God is not a God of confusion.
1 Corinthians 14:40, 33

We got talking in class about sloth in sermon preparation, winging it at the pulpit, going way over time because the preacher didn’t have it well thought out. Imbalance. Lack of discipline.

That indiscipline is likely to spill over into other compartments of life. Sloth in attending to family. Winging it in parenting. Not thinking through one’s responsibilities in life. Imbalance. Lack of discipline.

Now if we had unlimited hours to a day and unlimited days to our lifetimes, fine. But our hours are fixed, our days numbered. So the utilization of our times is a matter of stewardship of the hours and days God has given us.

As for the days of our life,
they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years, ….
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You
a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:10, 12

Balance. Knowing what to engage in and what not to. Knowing what to get involved in and what to avoid. Balance. That’s what makes a good steward of time.

God has entrusted us with hours and days. Fixed and numbered. Let’s steward them well.

… it is required of stewards
that one be found trustworthy.
1 Corinthians 4:2

God give us the wisdom to be balanced—orderly, disciplined, simple! And may He be glorified through the time He has given us.