One Dimensional Christianity

Those who know me and who have sat under my ministry know that one of my key words is "balance."  There must be balance in all of our lives, and that includes in our Christian walk. A pet peeve of mine is people who like one area of teaching, and that is what they feed themselves on. They zero in on an area of study (such as prophecy) and they study nothing but prophecy. Note that there is nothing wrong with prophecy, but we need more than that. We could pick any subject, but the principle is the same. We must study the whole Bible, rightly divided. Otherwise, we are out of balance. Ever have a washing machine go out of balance? All it does is make a whole lot of noise, and waste a lot of energy. Not much more than that is accomplished. And so it is with our Christian walk.

Let's look at it from another perspective. Suppose there was someone giving a speech on the awesome wonder of the automobile engine, but when you went to hear him speak, all he spoke about was the crank shaft. He could stress how that without the crankshaft, the engine was worthless, because the crankshaft moves the pistons which compress the fuel mixture, which fires and the force of the piston recoiling from the explosion turns the crank shaft with more force, thus driving the transmission. And he could make a good case for the crankshaft being the most important part of the engine. However, another person on the other  side of town giving a speech on the awesome wonder of the automobile engine is giving a speech and he insists that the piston is the most important part of the car engine, for without it, there is no compression of the fuel mixture, thus no explosion, thus nothing to turn the crankshaft. In yet another part of town, a man is giving a lecture on the automobile engine, but he insists that the spark plug is the most important part of the car engine, for without it, there would be nothing to cause the explosion, so the piston and crankshaft are useless without the spark plug. In still another part of town, there is another man giving a lecture on the automobile engine, but he asserts that it is the distributor/electronic ignition that is the most important part, for if it were not for it, the spark plugs would never know when or how to fire, therefore there would be nothing to push the piston, and therefore nothing to turn the crankshaft.  I could go on, but I hope by now you are getting the idea. Each part or component of the engine is vital. Remove any of them, and the rest of it does not work. It takes them all, working at peak performance in the correct order and balance in order for the engine to work. So it is with our Christian lives. When we study one area, or focus too much on one area, we get out of balance, and that throws everything in our Christian walk out of kilter, leaving us either not performing, or performing at a less than optimal way, rendering us ineffective.

It is easy to get caught up in what I term, "one dimensional Christianity". We have to guard ourselves, and discipline ourselves to study all of the Bible, not just the parts that we like or excite us, for just like that car engine, all the parts are essential to one another in order to balance out and keep our spiritual lives functioning in harmony and with productivity. Think about it... have you become prone to studying one area of our Christian life to the neglect of others? Find your place of balance. It may just be time for a spiritual tuneup.