I was having a conversation last night and the topic came up concerning the ‘Christian life’. The observation was that, in general, Christians live an unbalanced life. We tend to focus on one or two of the attributes of the basic Christian life to the neglect of the rest. I.e. Love to the neglect of godly counsel and rebuke, or the Holy Spirit to the neglect of the Word of God. I can’t help but compare our walk with God to the actual character of God (because our relationship with God is an extension of God). When we look at the attributes of God, such as his love or wrath or even his joy, we know that God is 100%, completely, each one of these attributes. God is 100% love and 100% wrath at the same time. How do we know this? We know this because for God to be more of one attribute and less of another would mean that he himself is more in one area and less in another. Or to say it in another way, this would imply that certain attributes of God are more important than others and by force of logic, that other of his attributes are less important. This cannot be, for God cannot not be anything less than complete and perfect in everything. All that he is is most important, and no part of him is less important than another. Therefore they each constitute the whole. This concept of God being 100% of each attribute is hard for us to grasp. We are accustomed to think of the ‘whole’ as the sum of its parts, each part contributing to the whole. We are not accustomed to the idea that each part, in and of itself, can constitute the whole. We can’t grasp how five different parts can each be 100% of the ‘whole’ in question. We would end up with 5 ‘wholes’ wouldn’t we? This is the difficulty that we face when trying to comprehend an infinite God with a finite mind. So how does this doctrine of God relate to the unbalanced Christian life? We have been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and therefore our relationship with God should follow the pattern of his attributes. Why? Because our relationship with God is fully supplied by God, through Christ, in the power of the Spirit. Being supplied by God it must therefore take on his attributes. For example, whatever God gives to his children we know is good, because God is not evil and therefore cannot give evil to his children; he gives from what he is. Our relationship with him is no different, it is a gift from him, an extension of who he is, and therefore must come from what he is, his attributes, complete in each aspect, 100% of the ‘whole’. This is to say that we should also be 100% love and 100% Godly counsel and rebuke as well as 100% filled with and led by the Spirit and also 100% obedient and submissive to the Word of God. Each of the basic requirements of the Christian life that are spoken of in scripture, faith, prayer, love, etc. (the list is too long to write exhaustively here) should be full and complete within our own walk, each constituting the whole, in and of themselves and therefore each receiving the same focus from us. When we focus on one area over another it's as if we are walking with one leg, and then we wonder why we are constantly falling down. We must model our walk after God and His character so that we may be balanced. But what about the areas that we are specially gifted or called by God? What I am speaking of in this entry is not the area of special calling placed on your life by God, but the basic Christian walk. If God has gifted you to preach then you shall focus your efforts on fulfilling that call while at the same time having a full relationship with God, equally so, if God has called you to be a missionary you will focus on relating to your people in a new culture while having a full relationship with God. I hope you can see that your calling from God goes over and above the basic Christian walk. I do not propose that we all be 100% of everything, preachers, missionaries, teachers, administrators, prophets, etc. that would be folly. But we are each called to have a full and complete relationship with God, taken from him and therefore imitating him in who he is. I know that we look at this proposition with difficulty and ask the question, “how?" We may never reach this goal, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. Let us not forget the counsel that Christ gave to his disciples when they asked how to achieve the impossible, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
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