“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” — Matthew 6:33
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What comes to mind when you initially see or hear the word “balance”? I automatically think of a gymnast performing her routine on a balance beam, or an individual at a circus walking high above on the tightrope. I tend to think of the Olympic diver maintaining his balance on the high dive or platform before he makes his attempt to dive and impress the judges. I also think of the old scales that have an equal amount of weight on both sides so they are balanced.
Balance is defined as an even distribution of weight. Golfers and great shooters in basketball have good balance in their stance when driving off the tee box or shooting a jump shot. Iconic Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski says, “Balance is an important aspect in life. Being motivated in your career is important, but you must be cautious not to become one-dimensional. If there is no balance between the time and energy spent on your career, your family, your religion, your friendships, and community service, you can become unbalanced internally.”
I must daily take the time to reflect and think of the many roles I play — husband, father, coach and the list goes on and on, as I’m sure yours does as well. What are we trying to balance? What are we attempting to juggle? What are our priorities?
My son, Jack, is great at juggling — a talent he did not inherit from me. I must admit I’m a decent juggler when I have only one tennis ball. Actually, I’m pretty good at juggling two tennis balls too. However, as soon as you add a third … I am done!
How many so-called tennis balls are we trying to juggle in life? If we are honest, the list could be double digits. I find myself wanting to be a good husband, which means balancing and juggling time with my wife. I also want to be a good dad, which means balancing and juggling time with my four kids. When I was coaching basketball, I wanted to be the best coach, which meant spending time scouting, watching film, attending clinics and workshops. I want to be a good employee, a good leader, a good son, a good brother, a good uncle, etc.
I finally realized that instead of trying to juggle all these activities and responsibilities, I should just give them all over to God. That’s what Matthew is sharing with us when he quotes Christ: “But seek first his kingdom … and all these things will be given to you” (Matthew 6:33). I had to get real with myself and with God — it became about priorities. I had to ask myself where I had God on my list. Was He even on it?
Is He on your list? If so, is He near the bottom or half way up? Are there things that are more important than Him?
He desires to be at the top of our list. It took me years to finally prioritize God and make Him No. 1. What I began realizing was that not only did God want to be at the top of my list, He wanted to be my list. Wow! Let that sink in. He wanted to be my list! I had to move all my priorities over to the other side, as they didn’t even deserve to be on the same list. I’ll never forget or regret making God my list.
What are you trying to juggle? Do you struggle with being balanced as a spouse or parent? Do you focus too much attention on your job, career or finances? Give it all over to God. Seek Him first. Completely surrender. Ask God to forgive you for not making Him your list — your top priority.
— Jim Good
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