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"A just weight and balance are the Lord's:
all the weights of the bag are his work"
- Proverbs 16:11.
"A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a
just weight is his delight"
- Proverbs 11:1.
"For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the
counsel of God"
- Acts 20:27.
God commands a just balance in the Bible. It is certainly a teaching on honesty, however the application goes beyond the market and reaches the Bible. We have to keep a balance among all different doctrines in the Bible. To keep a good balance is definitely not a compromise, it can manifest different facets of God's attributes and wisdom and it curbs Christians from going to the extremes. A just balance can also provide certain flexibility among different cultures, even in different times of human history, in different places of the world, and without sacrifice of the Truth.
Here I would like to share some examples in the Bible:
1. Matthew 1:23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall called his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us".
Christ is 100% man and 100% God, as a man he has faced all the temptations that a man could face, yet as God - He did not sin. Because of His sinless nature, He becomes our perfect sacrifice, whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but has everlasting life.
2. Proverbs 26:4,5 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him; Answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit".
These verses seemingly contradict with each other. However, they are to teach us that sometimes it is wise to ignore some foolish questions so that we do not get entangled with senseless arguments, being non-productive. However there is a time to stand up and speak up for the Truth in order to silent the fools so that they will be ashamed. Christians are to exercise their discretion between these two ways. Although we are commanded to be longsuffering, we also are His ambassadors and His soldiers(2 Cor 5:20, Eph 6:11-17). We love our Lord to an extent that we cannot put up any blasphemies to His name or distortions of His ways.
3. Another example in Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves".
Snakes and doves are extremely different in many ways yet Christ asked His disciples to learn from them. Christians are supposed to be peace-makers, pure and harmless, like doves. Yet we should not ignore the wickedness of this world and the devices of Satan, so that we can live in safety and continue to serve God.
4. Luke 14:28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?"
Matthew 6:34 "Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof".
There is a need to plan for our future, and God is our Lord every single moment. However, we are also commanded to work , to take care of the needs (Physical, emotional and spiritual) of our family, and to train up our next generation in the way that they should go etc. These all take good planning, good financial and time management. Christ also urges people to plan, and think, and calculate even as a man builds a tower, or as a king goes into war before they make a commitment to follow Him(Luke 14).
However, planning should never involve worrying. Worrying causes emotional disturbances, health problems and achieves nothing. It drags you down and dries you up. Worry is caused by a lack of Faith in God. Worrying puts the objects that we desire between God and ourselves. Worrying may be a sign that we are after something that God does not want us to have. Worry could well be a sign of greediness. Worry is from the devil not from God, we should get close to God and flee from worrying. At the same time we also need to calculate carefully in planning things in our life.
5. God's unconditional love is shown in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
His love towards the soul of a serious sinner or a faithful Christian is the SAME, He loves them to an extent that he died for them even before they knew anything about it, His great love is beyond measure and will never change.
Although He has such an unconditional love, however His blessings are conditional. John 14:21 tells us "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him". Christ will not show himself strong to the half-hearted Christian. He stops manifesting himself when His children refuse to repent, although He never stops loving them. Some Christians live a very dry and dead spiritual life because God's blessing is conditional - God is very eager to show His obedient children everything about Himself : His wisdom, His grace and justice, His character, His expectations, His will, His plan for them, His Word. He will also meets the needs of His children. It is very exciting to walk with Him, there are always surprises, amazements, and thanksgivings. He has more pleasure in rewarding them, blessing them than chastening them, although both are done with His greatest love. Salvation is free, but progressive Joy and Peace belong to those who love Him to an extent that they obey whatever He commands.
6.Faith and work have a perfect balance also.
Ephesians 2:8,9 " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast".
Salvation has nothing to do with works. It is purely out of God's absolute grace and one's absolute faith. Men are to obtain this status without any dependence on whatever good work he has done before, because no matter how great it is, they come way short of God's glory. One has to come to God and acknowledge his impotence in matching God's supreme standard and puts forth his trust in the work that Christ has done for him. Christ bore our sins and died for us on the cross at Calvary and then He was resurrected after three days and three nights buried in the tomb. Those who believe Christ is the Son of God and the work that He has done for us, their spirits go to Heaven after death. Their bodies shall be resurrected at Christ's second coming, and their spirits will unite with their bodies. They will also bypass God 's wrath in the Judgment Day, and spend eternity with the God the father in Heaven. Souls that have been saved and are now in Heaven have to follow this simple yet basic "Rule of Faith".
But is there a place of good works in the bible?
James 2:26 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also".
We definitely cannot earn our salvation by good works, but there is faith which cannot save. Why? because it is a dead faith and is not the living faith. Christians are to expected to show a recognizable change in their life styles after salvation: "Therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called"(Ephesians 4:1). Here is a verse for the new Christian : "Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word,or our epistle", Paul did not lower his demand even onto these new borns(2 Thessalonians 2:14,15), Paul even commanded the Philippian Church to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phillipians 2:12) What Paul instructs Christians is to prove their salvation by zealous work toward God. It does take time for a new convert to become a mature Christian, however there is NO place in the Bible that tells us that a genuine conversion will not bring forth good fruit, or the born-again Christian will have no interest in the things of God.
Unfortunately there are professed Christians with dead faith in churches. They will either bring forth no fuit or evil fruit(Matthew 3:8, 7:17-20, 21:18,19) and God's chastening hand is not on them because God only chastens his real children(Hebrews 12:8). They are the seeds fallen into stony places, they have received the word with joy but because there are no roots and are easily offended when tribulation and persecution come (Matthew 13:20-21). Many of them will still attend church with the false belief that they have Christ. Some can even prophesy, cast out devils and work miracles in the name of Christ but Matthew7:21-22 says : "not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven" . This is why Apostolic Paul always included a clear salvation message in his letters to the church, making provisions for the false believers to come into true salvation.
It is not our primary responsibility to judge who is the real possessor , or who is the professor in the church, but we must examine ourselves whether we are in the saving faith. If the answer is yes, then press on and serve Our Lord Christ Jesus: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves(2 Corinthians 13:5).
Again there are many other examples of just balances and just weights in the Scripture.S We must understand, study and share these truth with others, so that we will be able to keep a well balanced walk with Christ in a fervent spirit.
