Balance

Ok, for starters, this picture cracks me up because I have no idea what they made these figures out of, but it is weird. It still get the point across though.

Over the past few months, I have been thinking a lot about balance. Balance for me individually in areas such as marriage, friends, Young Life, man-time, working out, and recreation. But even more specifically, I have been thinking about balancing my faith in God. Now let me explain, so you immediately write me off as an emergent spiritual crazy person...

I keep thinking about balance as I try to define my theology or stance on what it means to believe and have faith in God. And what I mean by balance is that I struggle taking sides. There are a lot of theologies out there that draw hard lines and take firm stands on some highly debated biblical truths. For instance, Calvinism opposed to Open Theism. Calvinists are on one end of the spectrum with the beliefs such as total depravity, unconditional election or predestination, limited atonement (Jesus died only for the elect), irresistible grace (you cannot resist God's call if he chooses you), and finally the highly used phrase "once saved always saved." The most infamous belief the Calvinist's stand by is centered around that God's will is central and you don't choose God, He chooses you. At the other end of the spectrum, or teeter totter, are Open Theists who basically believe that God knows every possibility that each person has in life, but He doesn't choose for us. In essence, God gives you a choice about everything.

Now here's my take on issues such as these. I am so tired of getting stuck in these conversations. In the middle of these conversations or debates, I just want to hold up my picture of the weird teeter totter and say, "hey, you guys are like a bunch of little kids playing on a teeter totter during recess." You are more concerned about playing the Jesus game and winning, then living out the Gospel of Jesus.

Here's what I think. If you like to take sides in your theology, then eventually you are going to get shot off the teeter totter. The theology that I like to think about has everything to do with balance. I'm tired of trying to choose sides, because I honestly believe that both sides (mentioned earlier) are both right and wrong. They each have holes, and they don't seem to make since in all circumstances. So when someone invents a theology of balance, then count me in, because that seems to be a lot more Jesus-centered than the divisiveness of theology today.

Anyways, I'm gonna shoot for some balance in my life this year. Me, Jess, and my friend Will Heck starting working out this morning, and I look forward to the balance of working out 3 days a week at the local YMCA. I'm also doing a lot of other things to balance things out in my life, so you can look forward to at least one new blog each week for the future. I apologize for not being consistent in the past.

Until next time,
Jarred

ps...keep balancing