How to Be a Balanced Christian

Last Updated: December 3, 2021

Balance is always key to having a peaceful and happy life! God is the only being alive that is perfectly balanced, and becoming a balanced Christian is about making time in your life to devote to your family, your work, and God. However, living life as a balanced Christian is also about finding the middle ground between extreme beliefs. Some Christians tend to focus too much on the law and doctrine, and some focus too much on grace and so forget about living well. Both views are extreme, and either extreme is wrong. Satan tries to drive us to either extreme, but God is often in the middle ground. Here are some tips on how to become a more balanced Christian.

Steps

1
See, at the same time, God's grace and God's justice. God is loving, but He is also just. Yes, Christians are covered in God's grace, but God still has certain expectations for Christians. Paul says repeatedly that you are to "walk in a manner worthy of your calling."
- There is the verse, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." However Romans 14:12 says, "Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." Being a Christian doesn't completely get you off the hook, in a sense. Paul says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
- There are verses about falling from grace and falling from the faith. There are verses about branches that do not bear fruit being cut off.
- Romans 11:22 says, "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off." God is just and, therefore, cannot put up with sin. If someone continues to habitually sin as a supposed Christian, God's justice will probably be seen then rather than His grace.
2
Understand both sides to the free will/predestination debate. Yes, all Christians are chosen and called "before the foundation of the world", but also remember the verse, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Salvation is an open invitation. It is not just for "the chosen ones."
- 1 Timothy 2:4 says, "God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." Calvinism is not entirely true in saying that God picks some to be saved and some not to be saved. The truth is that God wishes that all people would come to be saved, but as He knows who will follow and what they will do.
- Romans 8:29 says, "Those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." God's knowing who would choose to follow Him, preceded whom He predestined (and thus saved unto the works that He prepared and foreordained, but we still have to receive Him, lay aside wrong ideas, follow Christ and do accordingly, or not, and He helps us in cooperation with others, if we let Him and others share).
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3
Recognize that Christians can become more filled with the Holy Spirit, but that this extra infilling comes and goes, as you may seek God -- or drift (slide or fall) away. Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when they are saved, but every Christian can be filled more with the Holy Spirit and with His gifts, of the Holy Spirit, in order to share the Gospel, etc.
- Jesus' own disciples even received the Holy Spirit three or more times. John 20:21-22 says, "Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And, when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' " This was when the disciples first became born again essentially. This when they received the Holy Spirit and were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
- Then at Pentecost it says, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." So in this instance they were filled more with the Holy Spirit, but it was only temporary, because again in Acts 4 it says, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."
- These are the same disciples that were filled in this extra way at Pentecost. So over the course of a Christian's life, they can be filled many times, in this extra way, by the Holy Spirit.
4
Have the heart of a child but not the mind of a child. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven." What this means is that we are to trust God with our hearts as a child trusts their parent. It means that we are to have faith that God is real even when we can't see Him or fully understand Him. But, it does not mean that we are to have childish thinking. We are still called to reason, as Paul did in Acts with the Jews. Jesus said that we are to be "as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves." Don't have the intelligence of a child; only have the heart of a child.
- One also needs the perspective to: "speak the things (that are true), not in words taught or learned through human wisdom/philosophy, but in those words of God taught by following the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people." (1 Corinthians 2). That is a higher calling than mere schooling, to follow God's Spirit, with Jesus as your main instructor (with Paul, James, Peter, Jude, etc. as mentors to us all).
5
Understand that there are times to judge and times to not judge. The Bible says "Judge not lest ye be judged." What this means is when Jesus said that we must first remove the plank from our own eye before we can judge our brother. If we struggle with something that we are condemning in someone's else, we need to look at ourselves first.
- However we are called to judge certain things. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:12, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" We are not supposed to judge non-Christians. Only God can do that. But, we are called to tell the truth with love to judge the fruit of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, so that we can keep them accountable. Christians are meant to be held to a higher standard to do the good that God has foreordained.
- If a fellow Christian is not living "in a manner worthy of their calling" as Paul talks about, we are supposed to call them out on it. However, we only do this for their own good. It is a corrective act of love, not condemnation.
6
Know that all spiritual gifts still exist today, but see that some have certain rules regarding their use. The Bible at no time says that any spiritual gifts would cease. Most people use 1 Corinthians 13 to say that when the Bible was complete, certain gifts ceased. But, rather Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, "When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away... For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." This is referring to, in Heaven. People did not see God face to face when the Bible was completed. We will not see God face to face until we are in Heaven.
- So all the gifts still exist today, but what does Paul say, for example, regarding the gift of tongues? 1 Corinthians 14:27 says, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret."
- In communal worship tongues must always be interpreted, and only two or three people should speak in a tongue, and each in turn to give them a chance to be interpreted. It is not meant to be that the two or three speak in tongues at the same time to the congregation. Some churches practice whole group spontaneously praising, glorifying God and praying aloud (while some may speak in tongues). Some have an instrumental praise song be played and encourage people to pray or sing aloud in tongues. Thus they say that is decent, orderly, controlled and regulated. The gift is still in existence today, but it is meant to be decent, orderly, regulated and controlled in communal worship.
7
Understand that Jesus did come to give us an abundant life, but also see that the Christian life can be very hard. Consider what Paul's life was like.
- He says in 2 Corinthians 11, "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches."
- Therefore, do not expect to have a comfortable and happy life as a Christian. Sometimes becoming a Christian will only make your life harder. Why? Because Satan becomes more set against you once you are a Christian.
- However in 2 Corinthians 4 this same Paul said about the Christian life, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed...Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Amen! So even if the life of a Christian is harder due to persecution, etc., we still always have the hope of Heaven to look forward to. Someday we will achieve an "eternal glory" in Heaven thanks to Jesus' death. Praise God!
8
See that God does still do the supernatural today, but realize that not every supernatural thing is from God. The Bible says that Satan can "masquerade as an angel of light." Satan can and does imitate miracles or things that God's Holy Spirit can do in order to deceive people. Also, remember that the magicians in Egypt could do all that Moses did, but the magicians were empowered by Satan, not God.
9
Recognize that God sometimes wants to heal people, but other times God allows people to remain in pain. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:7, "Because of these surprisingly great revelations... in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me." Sometimes God allows us to be in pain, or to stay in pain, in order to humble us.
- Paul was given a vision of Heaven, but then God allowed this "thorn in the flesh" to keep him from becoming arrogant on account of what he had seen. Paul notes that he prayed for his pain to go away, but God essentially said, "No." Paul says, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But, He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" God told Paul, "No.", of all people, and not just once, but three times.
- Therefore, God may very well say, "No." to us also, many times, about many different things we request. Remember that God said, "My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts." We may not understand why God tells us, "No.", but know that it is probably for our own good somehow.
- God says to Paul essentially that He wants Paul to be weak because then his power can be shown greater in Paul. The more that we are weak, the more that God's strength shines through us. Then it becomes all about God, as it should be and not us. Amen.
10
See that God does always answer our prayers, but not always, "Yes." Sometimes God says, "No.", or "Wait." When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, "Yet, not my will but your will be done." Essentially, God told Jesus, who was God in the Flesh, "No!" That is, also, we should pray for God's will, and sometimes tell ourselves, "No." Jesus did say, "You have not because you ask not." But, James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." It may not be a lack of faith for why we don't get what we are asking. It might just be because we are asking with wrong or bad motives that we don't get what we pray for.
- But dis-agreement and "human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. So, get rid of all moral filthiness and the evil that is in such general use, and humbly accept the word that has been planted in you, which can save you.", as James laid it out for us. (James 1:21).

Community Q&A

Question

What happens when two Christians think they are right, and both use Scripture to back up their side?

Community Answer

It is possible both these Christians are right, but they are not looking at the whole story. Clashes occur, but it is up to those Christians to look at themselves and ask if they are doing God's will or their own. It wakes an honest person who recognizes when he/she is in the wrong and when to back down. People can twist words to make it what they want. Just because someone uses Scripture doesn't mean they are right.

Warnings

Don't get into heated debates with other Christians over shades of meaning of Bible verses. There are verses in the Bible that, if taken by themselves, can seem to contradict another verse. Look at each verse in its context, and then see the Bible and the Church as a whole, and the Gospel will make sense as a complete fabric, not as many disjointed, single stitches nor bits and pieces. Then each follower of Christ will be in fellowship of believers, judged on the whole, not on a single dotting of an "i" or crossing of a "t" and then the Lord will attend to the questions in His own way and time (if you would burn inwardly, then you might leave and go to worship where that issue is not contentious, as the Bible warns us to avoid dissension), and we are to be of one accord.

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