CBC Worship Ministries: Devotional Blog

I would say that I am a man of action. Not action hero – I have no aspirations to be Superman, Batman or Spiderman – but simply a man who can’t sit still. After about 5 minutes in any meeting at any time of the day my mind is racing on to the next project, task, responsibility or activity. I think it’s a curse. I envy those who can sit through a 30-minute sermon without crossing or uncrossing their legs every other minute. I am jealous of those who can patiently sit through a church business meeting without the need to doodle on the agenda. It’s a curse!

What do I lack? I lack balance between the need for action and the need for reflection. There are those who are great at reflection – they have this amazing ability to sit, and think, and ponder, and . . . well, I’m not entirely sure what else it is that they are doing, but it looks very impressive. Then there are those who are great at action – building, arranging, organizing, creating, tinkering, and so on. Rarely does it seem that any one person possesses the ability to be great at both.

But what does God want from us? He wants that balance - He wants us to be people who understand the benefits of meditation, reflection and thoughtfulness. But then He also wants us to be people who serve, care for others, create, respond, work, and worship. I think if there was an example of a person who had this kind of balance in his life it would be King David. Here was a man who knew the value of meditation and reflection – right from the opening lines of Psalm 1 David tells us that “on his law he meditates day and night.” And many times thereafter David speaks of this trait – “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. . .” (Psalm 119:15) But David was also a man of action. (And I might say, would have made quite a good superhero, considering Goliath and all) David tended the sheep, played musical instruments, ran a kingdom, defeated his enemies, killed a giant, and so much more. I like this guy!!

I need this kind of balance. YOU need this kind of balance. Since I tend towards the “action” side of the equation I need to work at balancing it with more time spent in quiet and meditation. I need to be reminded of the importance of meditation so that God has the opportunity to speak to my heart. Perhaps this is you as well. Perhaps you are too caught up in the activities of life to reflect. If so, you are out of balance! Or perhaps you are great at reflection but, dare I say, a little lazy? Perhaps you need to put that faith of yours into action.

Either way, it’s a matter of balance. Remember, you can’t ride the unicycle if you’re out of balance. I encourage you to think about this over the course of this week (you can count it towards your “meditative and reflective” totals!) and see what God is saying to you. Perhaps this would be a good week to really start focusing in on acquiring the balance you need to stay the course of your Christian experience. So what you are waiting for? Get to it!!