Tag: Life balance

Extreme Balance – the Servant Leader

(This post will make more sense if you read extreme balance first)

We can be guilty of thinking that God promotes the role of a servant because it best describes our position relative to Him – and not realise that He does it because…

He is a servant

it is His nature

it is who He is

and we are to be like Him.

It isn’t possible to separate love and service and God is love

He loves us and He serves us!

Even as I write the words it feels wrong – but it’s not, it’s just extreme

I spoke in church a few months ago (when we did that – pre COVID-19) and asked the congregation to close their eyes and imagine God the Father appearing before them

Our natural reaction would be to fall in worship

I then asked them to imagine God lifting them up and putting them back in their seats and then beginning to wash their feet

I’m sure we would say like Peter, when Jesus (God with us) rose from the table and began to wash his feet, ‘Lord you will never wash my feet’

And He might say – ‘you are only able to be in my presence because I served you in a manner that makes washing feet look like nothing’

Listen to Jesus’ words in this remarkable parable

‘It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them’

I start with this end of the balance pole because it is the hardest for us to fathom (even though most of our prayers are requests for God’s Service)

He is also the Creator and Ruler of all things

When He speaks His words ‘never return without accomplishing what He desires’ – that is absolute unquestioned authority

Our minds cannot comprehend the extent of His authority and the terror of His presence

‘Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them’

We cannot overstate how extreme His Authority and Power is

and yet

His Service to us is not diminished by His Authority over us

And His Authority is not diminished by His Service

This is extreme balance

In Jesus’ words ‘… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Note, He did not say, don’t aspire to be great or first, He said to be great you must also be small and to be first you must also be last – extreme balance

The scriptures refer to us in equal measure as servants and as sons and daughters of God

The servant serves and the son or daughter rules in the Father’s name

We are not one or the other we are both

The more we embrace both the more balanced/stable we will be

The story of the Prodigal Son illustrates the problem of serving without ruling and ruling without serving

The older brother ‘served his father and never disobeyed a command’ but didn’t seem to realise the authority he had as a son, as a result he was bitter, angry, small minded and divisive

The younger brother knew the power of his inheritance but nothing of serving and as a result he became self-serving and lost everything

When the younger brother, the prodigal son, returned home a broken man, he intended to be as ‘one of his father’s hired servants’ but his father placed a ring, signifying his authority, on his finger. Perhaps he was now in the perfect place to live a balanced fruitful life.

We don’t know how the story ends for each of these brothers; it would have been good to see a second series.

If you rule or exercise power without serving, what you build, whether it is an empire, a company, a church a family or a person, might only be as strong and last as long as you

If you serve without ruling you might not build anything at all

If you rule and serve, you might participate in building something that last forever and enjoy an expansive life

‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor (serving), Mighty God (ruling), Everlasting Father (ruling), Prince of Peace (serving). Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end….’

Extreme Balance – how hard should we work?

(this post will make more sense if you read Extreme Balance first)

I have often reflected on the relationship between God’s provision and our effort.

In the Lord prayer, the phrase ‘give us this day our daily bread’ is a reference to the mana that God provided for the Israelite’s to eat in the wilderness. It was given – on the day – for the day, if the Israelite’s took more than they needed it rotted – it was ‘this day’s daily bread’. It was the supernatural provision of food. God said that he did this to ‘humble them so that they would learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’.

We were created by the word of God and are sustained by what He continues to speak over us.

Jesus said ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’

’Every good and perfect gift is from above…’

Paul said ‘my God shall supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus’

Truth 1 – If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness all our needs will be met.

Do we need to work at all if God is going to supply all our needs?

The bible also says ‘if you don’t work you don’t eat’ this implies that that what we eat comes from our labours – there was to be no eating for the lazy.

Adam was placed in the garden to ‘work it and keep it’

And then there is the parable that Jesus gave of the talents (a talent is a lot of money, maybe a million dollars). The master (God) gave three of his servants 5, 2 and 1 million dollars according to their ability and then went away. When he returned the servants given 5 and 2 million dollars had doubled their money and the master was pleased and said he would give them more. The one with one million dollars had hidden it because he was afraid of the master and gave it back to him without increase. The master was furious and took the million dollars off him and gave it to the servant with 10 million.

Paul said, ‘But if anyone does not provide for his own family, especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.’

Truth 2 – God wants us to be industrious and productive and provide for ourselves and those around us.

Obviously these two truths need balancing

I propose that extreme balance is required, we need to believe and embrace both to their extreme not limiting one by the other but letting them both have full expression.

I propose that the truly balanced view is that who we are and what we achieve is 100% due to Gods provision and the Words that He continues to speak over us

and

I propose that who we are and what we achieve is 100% due to our industry and effort

When we have an intimate relationship with God our lives are multiplied with His (see ‘The Power of Zero …’) and

Our 100% x His 100% = 100% of who we are and what we achieve

You might think, well why do I need God then – I can just work hard and get the same result

The parable of the talents answers this, the most gifted servant would have worked hard and only achieved his wages if the master hadn’t given him 5 million to invest. His 100% with the masters 100% was very different to his 100% without the master.

In my experience when I believe it’s entirely up to me:

I work too hard

I become anxious

My family suffers

My relationships suffer

It’s all mine

I become proud

The future looks uncertain and

I hold onto things too tightly

When I think it’s all God and nothing is required from me:

I give back to God exactly what He gave me, and nobody is happy!

When I live in extreme balance:

All my labour is ‘unto the Lord’

My family flourishes

I am not alone

I am confident and even courageous

I take responsibility but not ownership

I expect solutions to unsolvable problems

I hold things lightly and don’t suffocate them

I have concern and not anxiety

I know when I have enough and don’t always need more

I give

I’m thankful

I take pride but am not proud

Failures are not fatal because ‘all things work together for good…’

I work hard but not to exhaustion

I achieve things beyond anything I could have imagined and

I see the big picture because I seek first His kingdom and His righteousness

–

live abundantly!