Steady

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:36-38 ESV).

I have done enough woodworking to know a little about how to make a table steady. The real trick is in the balance of the legs. If one is just a little bit longer than the others are, it will wobble. Of course the most stable of all tables is not the four-legged design, but the three-legged one. Perhaps this is true because you can never make one leg more important than the others. All three bear the same weight and balance. Photographers know that holding a camera steady is best accomplished by using a tripod. Likewise, when it comes to one’s life, three elements must be kept in proper proportion in order to achieve balance.

There have been those who have suggested that man is made of two dimensions, the mental and physical. However, there is a third dimension that must be added if we are to achieve true balance. That dimension is the spiritual. This is the central truth Jesus uses when asked about the greatest commandment. He simply says that a man must love God with all of his heart, mind, and soul. It is another way of saying that our body, intellect, and spirit must be balanced to truly be stable.

1. Perhaps the hardest of the three to balance in our lives is that of the physical. This has become even more true the older I become. My body simply won’t do the things it used to do, no matter how much my mind tells it to do so! But, that does not lessen the need to keep physically fit. This is not just another mandate to diet and exercise. Those things should be a part of our lives no matter what age we are. Rather it is an encouragement to rest our bodies also. We talked a little about that yesterday. Eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep are all essential to maintaining a healthy body.

2. The second part to achieving balance in our lives is found in a healthy mind. We should never think of ourselves as too old to learn. Balance in your intellectual dimension is achieved through reading, interacting with others, and stimulating your mind with new thoughts. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

3. The third part is the easiest for the Christian, yet it is often overlooked. So many of us only “snack” on the Scripture. Balance comes from a steady diet of Bible study, prayer, and personal worship.

How wobbly is your “table”? Make your life stable, steady, and balanced by properly adjusting the three legs of the balanced-life tripod: body, mind, and spirit.