Day Thirty-Nine - Balancing Your Life
“Blessed are the balanced,” Mr. Warren begins, couching his message in the form of the Beatitudes of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. A statement so framed might be accorded an aura of wisdom and authority. Readers are likely to receive it warmly, for the typical reader will identify with the malady of imbalanced inner conflicts. In the popular view, the best that can be hoped would be to achieve an equilibrium of the tensions that beset the typical life. Christianity has a definite message for those who are caught up in the popular outlook, and Mr. Warren’s message is quite at odds with it.
God created Man and created the world to be his habitation. In his original estate Man enjoyed the integral unity of his life with his surrounding environment. But more than that, he also enjoyed the integral unity of his inner psyche, with its variety of attributes, motives, desires, affections, etc.; he enjoyed the integral unity of his intellect, emotions, and will. However, Man fell from this grace into corruption. In willful rebellion against the Law of God, Man fell into sin, and thereby into corruption. The unity of his life with the surrounding environment of the world was corrupted. Rather than the Garden of Eden, the world now grows for Man thorns and thistles. Beyond this, Man’s very nature was corrupted. In rebellion against God and His Law, Man is limited to doing what is right in his own eyes. But, in his rejection of the Law of God, Man cannot devise a law that will integrate all of life and the world. Thus his inner life and his actions in the world unavoidably will be filled with tension and conflict. Man will have difficulty going about his life in his natural environment; he will have difficulty interacting with his fellow men; and he will have difficulty with inner tensions and conflicts of the individual psyche. The solution to these difficulties of life is not to find a way to keep the tensions in “balance.” The solution is Redemption in Christ. In the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, God atoned for sin. By this wonderful atonement God’s people are freed from God’s wrath. Beyond that, His people also receive grace to see themselves and to see the things of life rightly. They receive also grace to live in “newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4) This does not mean that the conflicts of life entirely disappear. All things will be restored to the original Creation ideal at the end. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” (I Cor. 13:12) The grace of God in this life means that we can interpret things for what they really are, and can have wisdom in striving to order things according to the truth of God’s Law and order. The world has no alternative than to interpret the difficulties and conflicts of life as aspects of the basic nature of reality, and so has no other recourse than to attempt achieving the equilibrium of opposing tensions. The Christian has grace to know that difficulty and conflict imply corruption due to sin. The Christian beseeches God for grace and wisdom to identify the sin, to repent, and thus to do away with difficulties and conflicts rather than striving to “balance” them. Blessed are - not the “balanced,” but - the repentant.
Instead of the wisdom of an integrated world and life view, Mr. Warren has presented to us a whole catalog of conflict. Perhaps the clearest indication that Mr. Warren has accommodated unbelief rather than to have challenged unbelief with true Christian wisdom is that, as he now begins to sum up his book, he calls us to “balance” his conflicts. Such a call is highly significant in two important ways. First, it amounts to an admission that, as he construes them, his five purposes essentially conflict with one another. Second, it demonstrates that his method of dealing with the conflict is essentially Humanistic and not Christian.
First, let us survey the conflict. Mr. Warren presented each of his purposes in turn as the “most important thing,” than which “nothing matters more.” Regarding worship he said: “Nothing else comes close in importance” (p. 70), “Nothing mattered more” (p. 97), “There is nothing - absolutely nothing - more important than developing a friendship with God” (p. 99). Regarding fellowship he said: “The most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love” (p. 123), “Love is not a good part of your life; it’s the most important part” (p. 124), “Relationships…are what matters most in life” (p. 125), “Relationships are what life is all about…nothing matters more” (p. 126) “Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his church” (p. 161). Regarding discipleship he said: “God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development” (p. 173), “God is far more interested in building your character than he is anything else” (p. 177). Regarding service he said: “You were put on earth to make a contribution” (p. 227), “Life is meant for ministry” (p. 232), “It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives” (p. 232). Regarding missions he said: “Your mission gives your life meaning” (p. 285), “Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God” (p. 284), “Nothing matters more to God” (p. 288), “Nothing matters more” (p. 298). Every succeeding purpose being the “most important” one had its consequences. When speaking of worship, Mr. Warren said, “You will never understand some commands until you obey first. Obedience unlocks understanding.” (p. 72) But, when speaking of discipleship, he said, “You can only give God as much of you as you understand at that moment. That’s okay.” (p. 218) When speaking about discipleship, Mr. Warren said, “I cannot overstate the value of being a part of a small Bible study discussion group.” (p. 191) But, when speaking about ministry he said, “The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study.” (p. 231) When speaking of fellowship Mr. Warren said, “None of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.” (p. 130) But when speaking of ministry he said, “If you don’t make your unique contribution to the Body of Christ, it won’t be made.” (p. 241) Over the course of these commentaries many similar examples have been cited. Throughout the book each one of Mr. Warren’s purposes takes its turn being the “ultimate” thing, the “most important” thing, the thing that “gives our lives meaning,” and the thing that God “cares about most.” It is not truthful to assign ultimacy to any of these “purposes.” But, having assigned ultimacy to one “purpose,” the only way for Mr. Warren to ascribe any importance to the other “purposes” was to assign to them a competing and therefore a conflicting ultimacy. The only alternative for him was not to proceed at all, but to repent, to go back and to remove the ultimacy wrongly assigned.
Second, let us examine Mr. Warren’s method of dealing with these conflicts. Regarding the discrepancy between one’s ideals and reality, Mr. Warren said, “Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.” (p. 162) Such an expression, though pious in form, assumes that the typical ideal conforms to the truth of God, and that the typical state of reality violates God’s truth. These assumptions are unwarranted. In some cases when reality diverges from a person’s ideals, it is his ideals that need to be reformed - not reality. In truth, no one’s ideals are perfectly formulated or consistently held, and reality, though corrupted, never is corrupted exhaustively. Criticism of reality is not always immaturity; and acceptance of reality is not always complacency. Maturity is rightly discerning God’s Word of Truth, speaking the Word in right circumstances, and applying the Word aptly in the throes of life. Mr. Warren has not discerned ideals of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, or missions that comport with God’s Word. Therefore, his ideals - any one by itself, or any several of them together - cannot possibly be realized. His answer is, “Blessed are the balanced,” or, “live with the tension.” The Christian answer is redemption in Christ.
It is more than ironic that the term Atonement appears for the first time in this book in this, the next to last chapter, on page 310. It appears in context of Mr. Warren’s discussion of John chapter 17, the high priestly prayer of Jesus. (There was occasion to speak of this text also in commentary of Chapter 36) In verse 4, in the preamble of His prayer, Jesus addressed the Father, saying, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.” What was this work? According to Mr. Warren, “Jesus modeled a purpose-driven life, and he taught others how to live it, too. That was the ‘work’ that brought glory to God.” (p. 310) Christian theologians, scholars and commentators for centuries have agreed that Jesus’ statement anticipated His imminent crucifixion. Since the beginning, Christian orthodoxy has held that the work the Father gave the Son to do, which He glorified the Father in accomplishing, was to redeem His people from their sins in His death, burial, and resurrection. While it is true that there was a variety of works accomplished by Christ in the course of His earthly ministry, it is beyond dispute that redemption from sin in His substitutionary death was the chief object of His coming, which plainly and repeatedly is stated. (Mt. 9:13; 20:28, Mk. 2:17; 10:45, Lk. 5:32; 19:10, Jn. 6:38-40; 12:27, Heb. 10:9, I Tim. 1:15) Mr. Warren suggests that Jesus could not have meant the Atonement because His death had not yet occurred. By this same reasoning, in John 19:30 Jesus hung upon the cross and said, “It is finished,” He could not have meant the Atonement in that case either, because His death had not yet occurred. His statement, “It is finished,” occurred in the moment prior to His death; his statement that He had accomplished the work the Father had given Him to do occurred on the eve of His death. It is outside all reasonable proportion to suggest that in John 19:30 Jesus referred to His death, but that in John 17:4 He intended something other than the chief purpose for which He came into this world.
Mr. Warren’s notion overturns centuries of orthodoxy. For centuries Christians understood that the work the Father gave the Son to do was Redemption. Mr. Warren says, in effect, that this understanding is wrong, and that His work rather was to “model a purpose-driven life.” However, he does not present his view as differing with what the church always believed and striking out in an entirely new direction. Is it not incumbent upon one who wishes to introduce a new idea that he should give account of how and why the long-held belief is wrong? But, Mr. Warren does not take seriously his position as a doctrinal revolutionary. He merely lays out his idea as a common-sense reading of the Bible without any acknowledgement that in so doing he contradicts every biblical scholar and commentator throughout history. But, it is not as though Mr. Warren ignores the Atonement completely. As already noted, he does make mention of the Atonement in context of his discussion. As this commentary has endeavored to show, the Doctrine of the Atonement is the crux of the Christian message. But Mr. Warren’s sole mention of it is in context of declaring that the Atonement is not the work the Father gave the Son to do. In Mr. Warren’s scheme of things it cannot be this work, for if it were, then it would completely undermine his notion of “balancing” the conflicts of a series of “most important” things. But, in fact, the Atonement is indeed the work that the Father gave the Son to do. Since Christ accomplished this work, we, the recipients of this grace, now can embrace without tension or conflict our one truly ultimate purpose of glorifying God. Our standing in this grace enlightens us to interpret things for what they really are, and empowers us to repent of our sins and thus to resolve - not “balance” - our difficulties.
God created Man and created the world to be his habitation. In his original estate Man enjoyed the integral unity of his life with his surrounding environment. But more than that, he also enjoyed the integral unity of his inner psyche, with its variety of attributes, motives, desires, affections, etc.; he enjoyed the integral unity of his intellect, emotions, and will. However, Man fell from this grace into corruption. In willful rebellion against the Law of God, Man fell into sin, and thereby into corruption. The unity of his life with the surrounding environment of the world was corrupted. Rather than the Garden of Eden, the world now grows for Man thorns and thistles. Beyond this, Man’s very nature was corrupted. In rebellion against God and His Law, Man is limited to doing what is right in his own eyes. But, in his rejection of the Law of God, Man cannot devise a law that will integrate all of life and the world. Thus his inner life and his actions in the world unavoidably will be filled with tension and conflict. Man will have difficulty going about his life in his natural environment; he will have difficulty interacting with his fellow men; and he will have difficulty with inner tensions and conflicts of the individual psyche. The solution to these difficulties of life is not to find a way to keep the tensions in “balance.” The solution is Redemption in Christ. In the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, God atoned for sin. By this wonderful atonement God’s people are freed from God’s wrath. Beyond that, His people also receive grace to see themselves and to see the things of life rightly. They receive also grace to live in “newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4) This does not mean that the conflicts of life entirely disappear. All things will be restored to the original Creation ideal at the end. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” (I Cor. 13:12) The grace of God in this life means that we can interpret things for what they really are, and can have wisdom in striving to order things according to the truth of God’s Law and order. The world has no alternative than to interpret the difficulties and conflicts of life as aspects of the basic nature of reality, and so has no other recourse than to attempt achieving the equilibrium of opposing tensions. The Christian has grace to know that difficulty and conflict imply corruption due to sin. The Christian beseeches God for grace and wisdom to identify the sin, to repent, and thus to do away with difficulties and conflicts rather than striving to “balance” them. Blessed are - not the “balanced,” but - the repentant.
Instead of the wisdom of an integrated world and life view, Mr. Warren has presented to us a whole catalog of conflict. Perhaps the clearest indication that Mr. Warren has accommodated unbelief rather than to have challenged unbelief with true Christian wisdom is that, as he now begins to sum up his book, he calls us to “balance” his conflicts. Such a call is highly significant in two important ways. First, it amounts to an admission that, as he construes them, his five purposes essentially conflict with one another. Second, it demonstrates that his method of dealing with the conflict is essentially Humanistic and not Christian.
First, let us survey the conflict. Mr. Warren presented each of his purposes in turn as the “most important thing,” than which “nothing matters more.” Regarding worship he said: “Nothing else comes close in importance” (p. 70), “Nothing mattered more” (p. 97), “There is nothing - absolutely nothing - more important than developing a friendship with God” (p. 99). Regarding fellowship he said: “The most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love” (p. 123), “Love is not a good part of your life; it’s the most important part” (p. 124), “Relationships…are what matters most in life” (p. 125), “Relationships are what life is all about…nothing matters more” (p. 126) “Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his church” (p. 161). Regarding discipleship he said: “God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development” (p. 173), “God is far more interested in building your character than he is anything else” (p. 177). Regarding service he said: “You were put on earth to make a contribution” (p. 227), “Life is meant for ministry” (p. 232), “It is through ministry that we discover the meaning of our lives” (p. 232). Regarding missions he said: “Your mission gives your life meaning” (p. 285), “Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God” (p. 284), “Nothing matters more to God” (p. 288), “Nothing matters more” (p. 298). Every succeeding purpose being the “most important” one had its consequences. When speaking of worship, Mr. Warren said, “You will never understand some commands until you obey first. Obedience unlocks understanding.” (p. 72) But, when speaking of discipleship, he said, “You can only give God as much of you as you understand at that moment. That’s okay.” (p. 218) When speaking about discipleship, Mr. Warren said, “I cannot overstate the value of being a part of a small Bible study discussion group.” (p. 191) But, when speaking about ministry he said, “The last thing many believers need today is to go to another Bible study.” (p. 231) When speaking of fellowship Mr. Warren said, “None of us can fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves.” (p. 130) But when speaking of ministry he said, “If you don’t make your unique contribution to the Body of Christ, it won’t be made.” (p. 241) Over the course of these commentaries many similar examples have been cited. Throughout the book each one of Mr. Warren’s purposes takes its turn being the “ultimate” thing, the “most important” thing, the thing that “gives our lives meaning,” and the thing that God “cares about most.” It is not truthful to assign ultimacy to any of these “purposes.” But, having assigned ultimacy to one “purpose,” the only way for Mr. Warren to ascribe any importance to the other “purposes” was to assign to them a competing and therefore a conflicting ultimacy. The only alternative for him was not to proceed at all, but to repent, to go back and to remove the ultimacy wrongly assigned.
Second, let us examine Mr. Warren’s method of dealing with these conflicts. Regarding the discrepancy between one’s ideals and reality, Mr. Warren said, “Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.” (p. 162) Such an expression, though pious in form, assumes that the typical ideal conforms to the truth of God, and that the typical state of reality violates God’s truth. These assumptions are unwarranted. In some cases when reality diverges from a person’s ideals, it is his ideals that need to be reformed - not reality. In truth, no one’s ideals are perfectly formulated or consistently held, and reality, though corrupted, never is corrupted exhaustively. Criticism of reality is not always immaturity; and acceptance of reality is not always complacency. Maturity is rightly discerning God’s Word of Truth, speaking the Word in right circumstances, and applying the Word aptly in the throes of life. Mr. Warren has not discerned ideals of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, or missions that comport with God’s Word. Therefore, his ideals - any one by itself, or any several of them together - cannot possibly be realized. His answer is, “Blessed are the balanced,” or, “live with the tension.” The Christian answer is redemption in Christ.
It is more than ironic that the term Atonement appears for the first time in this book in this, the next to last chapter, on page 310. It appears in context of Mr. Warren’s discussion of John chapter 17, the high priestly prayer of Jesus. (There was occasion to speak of this text also in commentary of Chapter 36) In verse 4, in the preamble of His prayer, Jesus addressed the Father, saying, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.” What was this work? According to Mr. Warren, “Jesus modeled a purpose-driven life, and he taught others how to live it, too. That was the ‘work’ that brought glory to God.” (p. 310) Christian theologians, scholars and commentators for centuries have agreed that Jesus’ statement anticipated His imminent crucifixion. Since the beginning, Christian orthodoxy has held that the work the Father gave the Son to do, which He glorified the Father in accomplishing, was to redeem His people from their sins in His death, burial, and resurrection. While it is true that there was a variety of works accomplished by Christ in the course of His earthly ministry, it is beyond dispute that redemption from sin in His substitutionary death was the chief object of His coming, which plainly and repeatedly is stated. (Mt. 9:13; 20:28, Mk. 2:17; 10:45, Lk. 5:32; 19:10, Jn. 6:38-40; 12:27, Heb. 10:9, I Tim. 1:15) Mr. Warren suggests that Jesus could not have meant the Atonement because His death had not yet occurred. By this same reasoning, in John 19:30 Jesus hung upon the cross and said, “It is finished,” He could not have meant the Atonement in that case either, because His death had not yet occurred. His statement, “It is finished,” occurred in the moment prior to His death; his statement that He had accomplished the work the Father had given Him to do occurred on the eve of His death. It is outside all reasonable proportion to suggest that in John 19:30 Jesus referred to His death, but that in John 17:4 He intended something other than the chief purpose for which He came into this world.
Mr. Warren’s notion overturns centuries of orthodoxy. For centuries Christians understood that the work the Father gave the Son to do was Redemption. Mr. Warren says, in effect, that this understanding is wrong, and that His work rather was to “model a purpose-driven life.” However, he does not present his view as differing with what the church always believed and striking out in an entirely new direction. Is it not incumbent upon one who wishes to introduce a new idea that he should give account of how and why the long-held belief is wrong? But, Mr. Warren does not take seriously his position as a doctrinal revolutionary. He merely lays out his idea as a common-sense reading of the Bible without any acknowledgement that in so doing he contradicts every biblical scholar and commentator throughout history. But, it is not as though Mr. Warren ignores the Atonement completely. As already noted, he does make mention of the Atonement in context of his discussion. As this commentary has endeavored to show, the Doctrine of the Atonement is the crux of the Christian message. But Mr. Warren’s sole mention of it is in context of declaring that the Atonement is not the work the Father gave the Son to do. In Mr. Warren’s scheme of things it cannot be this work, for if it were, then it would completely undermine his notion of “balancing” the conflicts of a series of “most important” things. But, in fact, the Atonement is indeed the work that the Father gave the Son to do. Since Christ accomplished this work, we, the recipients of this grace, now can embrace without tension or conflict our one truly ultimate purpose of glorifying God. Our standing in this grace enlightens us to interpret things for what they really are, and empowers us to repent of our sins and thus to resolve - not “balance” - our difficulties.
posted by S. C. Mooney at 9:00 PM
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